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South Brunswick, North Brunswick boys soccer advance to GMCT final

Lauren Knego
@laurenknego
South Brunswick's Kevin Nunez (center), Patrick Grudnik, and Jarett Kean go up for a head ball with South Plainfield's Ian McCoid in the GMC Tournament final at Woodbridge on Oct. 31, 2015.

MONMOUTH JUNCTION - It took longer than the scheduled 80 minutes, but the South Brunswick High School boys soccer team is headed back to the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament final.

Jake Stump scored the game-winner just two minutes into overtime on a pass from Kevin Nunez to lead the fifth-seeded reigning co-champions to a 3-2 victory over No. 9 St. Joseph in the GMC Tournament semifinals on Thursday afternoon.

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"I can't describe it. All I know is I missed one in the first half because I was rushing, so I took my time," Stump said of scoring the game-winner.

South Brunswick (14-5) will face No. 10 North Brunswick in the final on Saturday at Woodbridge High School at 1:30 p.m. The Raiders upset third-seeded and reigning co-champion South Plainfield 1-0 in the other semifinal.

Kunal Thakral put the Vikings ahead 1-0 just seven minutes into the game, and South Brunswick held that lead at the half. St. Joseph (11-7-2) answered back at the start of the second half when Antonio Oliveira scored on an assist from Nick Cruz to tie the game 1-1.

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"We talked to each other, we just motivated each other," Thakral said of allowing St. Joseph back into the game. "We've been in this situation before, even with them, and that's how we got them back."

With 10:56 remaining Thakral scored his second goal of the afternoon for the 2-1 advantage.

St. Joseph kept attacking in the final 10 minutes and managed to score with 33 seconds left on a set piece to tie the game 2-2. Cruz took a free kick and sent the ball into a crowd in front of the net, where Matt Cruz managed to get it past South Brunswick goalie Justin Cross to send the game to overtime.

"We couldn't put our heads down and crumble," Stump said. "We had to stay strong and keep playing the way we play."

Cross finished with seven saves for the Vikings while Gurjivan Kalkat made nine saves for the Falcons.

READ: SOUTH PLAINFIELD ADVANCES TO GMCT SEMIFINALS

In the other semifinal, No. 10 North Brunswick managed to upset third-seeded South Plainfield (14-6), last year's co-champion with South Brunswick.

"Four years of hard work that just paid off," North Brunswick goalie Pawel Dzielski said. "We knew what they were all about, this is the third game (we've played them). We know (Jacob Villacres) was an attacking threat the whole way through so we came in with a game plan of strong defense, we got a good offensive goal and we got it."

After 49 minutes of scoreless, back-and-forth action, the Raiders (15-3-2) managed to force the Tigers to make a mistake, which led to a goal and a 1-0 lead.

Jeffrey Montoya scored on an assist from Sam Mikhailov with 31:01 remaining in the game to put North Brunswick ahead. South Plainfield kept attacking, but couldn't get past the Raiders' defense. Dzielski finished with 14 saves for the ninth shutout of the season. For the Tigers, Nick Plate made five saves.

"I just remember making the run and putting the ball in the net," Montoya said. "I think we played really well together, we knew we had to get it done and we got it done."

North Brunswick and South Brunswick have yet to face each other this season, but both teams are aware of each other's talent and players from both sides know it's going to be a battle.

"Definitely a tough match, something similar to this. We just have to grind it out and get a goal somehow," Dzielski said of facing South Brunswick. "Just knowing our game plan, obviously in the first half we were on our back foot I guess you could say, second half we just came out showing what we could do and I think that's what we're going to try and do again."

The Vikings will be making their ninth appearance in the final and will be looking to win their third overall title. South Brunswick won the championship outright 1-0 over North Brunswick in 2009. The Raiders will be making their 12th appearance, and first since that loss to South Brunswick in '09. North Brunswick last won the GMC Tournament crown with back-to-back wins in 2004 and 2005.

"We haven't played them all season, we played them a little last season, they got dropped down but they're really good," Thakral said of North Brunswick. "We know about the players, we know they're a good team and they have a great goalie."

"We can't expect them to hold anything back," Stump added. "All we have to do is hope we can come out strong."

Staff Writer Lauren Knego: lknego@gannettnj.com; on Twitter: @laurenknego