Lancers and Devils End With 1-1 Tie

By Walter J. O’Neill, Jr.

Making a sliding steal of the ball from a St. John Vianney player is Michael Ilvento (22) a junior at Shore Regional.

It was an exciting boys’ soccer game on Monday afternoon at Shore Regional High School. The Blue Devils hosted the Lancers of St. John Vianney in a Shore Conference A Central divisional battle. Both teams fought hard and ended after two overtime periods tied at one goal each.

“In my 16 years of coaching this year our schedule is the hardest I have ever experienced,” said Christian Pontier, head coach of the Blue Devils. Shore entered the game with a 5-3 overall record and were 2-1 in the division while the Lancers arrived at 2-3-2 overall and 0-2-1 in A Central games.

Both teams were scoreless in the first half with a majority of the game played in the midsection of the pitch. During the second half, both school scored goals late in the game. “We had sophomore Bryan Barbosa scored off an assist from junior Silvio Pessosa,” said Pontier.

For the Lancers, their goal was scored by Ethan Bellone off an assist from Cyril Azer. Regulation time ended with the score deadlocked at one point each. After two overtime periods that were scoreless, the game was called a draw. It was St. John Vianney third tie of the year. They opened with a 2-2 draw with Red Bank Regional, then went scoreless with Middletown North and  then the 1-1 with Shore.

“The season has started off well for the Shore boys as we are now 5-3-1 through the first nine games. Seven of those games were on the road,” said Pontier. As he stated, this year’s schedule is very difficult. “Every team we face has a higher enrollment and is a higher Group than us. We have been in every single game this season and are punching above our weight.” Shore Regional competes in Group 1, which is the smallest schools in the state in regard to student enrollment.

Shore played some great defense in the draw with St. John Vianney. “The defense is led by senior captain goalkeeper Henry Azzoloni. The back line of juniors Shane Sullivan and Jackson Motzenbecker and anchored by senior captain Madden DeRosa,” said Pontier. He also added that the midfield has contributed enormously this season with senior Joey Mariani, juniors Silvio Pessoa and Michael Illvento and sophomore Bryan Silveira.

Offensively, Shore had so many opportunities against the Lancers. A handful of shots were just inches off or the St. John Vianney goalie made great stops. “Our forwards are led by senior captain Cooper Attaway, senior Declan Drucker and sophomore Bryan Barbosa,” Pontier said. Shore had a 10-3 shot on goal advantage over the Lancers.

The Blue Devils also have some talented freshman on the varsity roster. Pontier said that Gavin Cavanuaugh and Jonah Eichenbaum have gotten a tremendous amount of minutes on the defensive side. Offensively, freshman Rocco Bufano and Hayden DeRosa are also getting lots of action as is sophomores Ryan Cregle and Gavin Neuhaus.

“All these difficult games will leave the boys battled tested when we get to the Group 1 State Tournament, where we have won two sectional titles in the last three years, and a Group 1 overall State title in 2023,” added Pontier.

The A Central division has Manasquan on top followed by Wall, Shore, Middletown South, Ocean, St. John Vianney and Middletown North. Next scheduled game for the Blue Devils is on September 30, when they host Manasquan at 6:00 p.m.

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