South Brunswick boys soccer ready to see what its capable of
At the start of preseason, South Brunswick High School boys soccer coach Chris Hayston was unsure of how his team was going to look come opening day.
Fast forward one week and Hayston is breathing a sigh of relief as the Vikings have progressed through a few stages of growing pains and are coming along better than expected. South Brunswick scrimmaged against Cherokee, Hillsborough, Bridgewater-Raritan and Scotch Plains-Fanwood, and got progressively better each time.
"We're better than we were a week ago, we’ve had some challenging preseason games," Hayston said. "It’s funny, if you called me on August 27, I would be a lot more worried, but at this point I’m cautiously optimistic about what we can do."
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The Vikings lost 14 players to graduation, nine of them starters, including midfielder Pat Grudnik, who tallied 15 goals last season, as well as goalie Arvind Swaminathan (five shutouts) and five defenders who combined for seven goals and 15 assists.
Despite the hit taken by graduation (with a large number of players moving on to play at the collegiate level), South Brunswick still has a number of players who gained valuable varsity experience last year and will be counted on to lead the charge.
Senior midfielders Kevin Nunez (six goals, five assists) and Sergio Caballero (one goal, eight assists) along with senior forward Kunal Thakral (five goals, two assists) return to lead the offensive line.
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"We returned two very good midfielders, and last year because we had some success, we had the opportunity to get a lot of guys experience, and a lot of those starters saw varsity minutes last year, and I’m very confident in them," Hayston said. "The young guys coming up, I think will be able to step up and play well immediately."
One young player who has caught Hayston's eye is incoming sophomore forward John Boher, who "has stood out and been very good all over the field." Junior forwards Christos Lolas and Dylan Inguardi are two returning varsity players, who according to Hayston didn't get a lot of playing time last season but have had outstanding preseason campaigns.
South Brunswick is also deep at the goalie position, with senior Nick Hoffmann and sophomore Justin Cross competing for time.
The Vikings have learned lessons and gotten better with each scrimmage and practice, and Hayston is pleased with the continued improvement.
"I think we’re certainly improving our ability to move the ball, we’re trying to get out of a kick-and-run type of game, which I think we were playing early in preseason," Hayston said. "If we can possess and keep the ball, one, it will prevent the other team from scoring because we have possession; two. It tires people out; and three, It creates the most opportunities to score.
"I think we’ve been doing a much better job of moving the ball and defensively, we’re not there yet, but we have done a better job of getting pressure and dictating to other teams what they’re going to do instead of hanging back and allowing them to dictate to us."
South Brunswick wants to keep progressing and would like to be in a position to play for a championship at the end of the season. Last year, the Vikings went 17-4-1, tied with South Plainfield for the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament championship and advanced to the Central Group IV quarterfinals. This year, it starts with winning the Red Division title.
"I think our goal in our program is always to be playing for a championship at the end, that’s no way a guarantee, but we always want to start with the division, and the division it can be tougher than winning the county tournament," Hayston said. "It starts with winning the division and the sectional and the state. It will always be our goal, some years it’s more realistic than others, but if we play to our potential and get some luck, we can certainly be there in the end. The key to win any championship is to have talent, to play well at the right time and to catch a break or two as well."
The Vikings will start their season at 4 p.m. Thursday at home against New Brunswick.
Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego
GREATER MIDDLESEX CONFERENCE PRESEASON TOP 10
1. South Brunswick (17-4-1)
2. Monroe (17-5-1)
3. New Brunswick (20-2)
4. South Plainfield (16-7-2)
5. East Brunswick (15-5-2)
6. St. Joseph (10-10-1)
7. South River (14-8-2)
8. Sayreville (9-8-3)
9. Spotswood (11-9)
10. Metuchen (16-6)
Last year's final records in parenthesis.