Soccer: Inguardi, South Brunswick top St. Joseph

METUCHEN - The South Brunswick High School boys soccer team didn't exactly play its best soccer of the season on Thursday afternoon, but the Vikings still managed to come away with the win. 

South Brunswick improved to 4-0 with a 1-0 victory over Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division rival St. Joseph (Met.). It was the first time the two teams met since the Vikings defeated the Falcons in last year's GMC Tournament quarterfinals. 

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"The expectation was that we were going to play a great team today, that could really play soccer," South Brunswick's Dylan Inguardi said. "We knew about Nick Cruz, we knew about some of the dangerous players up top and we knew that we were going to have to play hard. I don't think we were our best by any stretch of the imagination today, but good teams hang in there and that's what we did today."

St. Joseph controlled the tempo for a majority of the first half, but South Brunswick only needed one opportunity, which came in the 14th minute. Defender Christos Lolas took a free kick from about the 30-yard line in the Vikings' territory, and sent it down field to a waiting Dylan Inguardi, who beat his defender and sent a shot into the right corner of the net for the 1-0 lead. 

The Falcons worked the rest of the game to try and get the equalizer, and their best chance came when they were awarded a direct kick in the box with about six minutes left in the game. Matt Pinho took the kick and sent it to Cruz, but despite a wild scrum in front of the net, South Brunswick goalie Justin Cross was able to make the save. 

It was the second loss in a row for the Falcons (2-2) after starting the season 2-0. 

"I think in the end we came out on top but this wasn't our best, we've played better than this," Cross said. "If we can beat teams at our worst like this, I think we can go far and do very well this year."

Cross earned his first shutout of the season and finished with 10 saves. Christian Owens made seven saves for St. Joseph.

"They saved me a lot," Cross said of his defense. "There were some questionable choices I made but they bailed me out in the end, so that's why I love those guys, they always have my back."

South Brunswick is currently atop the Red Division with wins over Monroe, New Brunswick and Perth Amboy. Last season the Vikings went 14-7 and advanced to the GMC Tournament final, where they fell to North Brunswick 2-1 in overtime, then fell to the Raiders again in the first round of the NJSIAA Central Group IV Tournament in penalty kicks. 

The Vikings lost eight players from last year's team, but that doesn't seem to be having any impact on them this year. South Brunswick returned a number of strong players, including forward Jake Stump and defenders Lolas, Ben Aug, Jared Budhu and John Bohrer, who played a big part in shutting down a tough St. Joseph offense on Thursday.

"Everyone's willing to fight until the last second for every win and we know we lost last year to North Brunswick, and that's in our minds every game and we're looking to get back and progress back into states," Inguardi said. "We have the best goalkeeper in the GMC, and I think that there is a spirit in this team and that's going to take us a long way."

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