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2001 Watchung Hills Boys Soccer |
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Boys Soccer Highlights Week Ending September 23, 2001 |
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Grodeck, Lavorerio lead by example |
| With 11 players graduating from last season's 6-14 squad, head coach Dan
Root has 17 players on the 2001 Watchung Hills varsity boys squad but only six are members of the Class of 2002.
On Friday in Warren, the Warriors battled Warren Hills to a 1-1 standoff to snap a string of four straight losses
that started the campaign. Leading the way were senior co-captains Eric Grodeck and Rob Lavorerio. A defender Grodeck converted a long throw-in from junior outside midfielder Derrick Shallcross into a goal five minutes into the Skyland Conference contest. It was only the second goal of the season for the Warriors who dropped decisions to Franklin (0-6), Bridgewater-Raritan (0-3), North Plainfield (1-3) and Hunterdon Central (0-2). Junior midfielder Jim Colletti netted the initial goal of the season against North Plainfield when he scored off an indirect kick with his classmate Derik Rosa, a midfielder, picking up an assist. Warren Hills entered Friday's game sporting a 3-3 record and trailed the Warriors until knotting the contest in the second half. Lovererio, now in his second season as Watchung Hills' keeper, turned in a strong effort between the pipes, stopping 12 of 13 shots on goal and preserving the tie through two scoreless overtime periods. "We did not play in our first game but have shown improvement in each of the next four games," said head coach Dan Root. "Rob and Eric have been steadying influences on the younger players and it was great to see them play the major roles in stopping the losing streak." In addition to the co-captains, two other senior are returning letterwinners and starters. Alex Lourenco, who wears No. 1 on his jersey, starts up front on the forward line while Colin Shallcross is the starting sweeper. David Fuller comes off the bench to play forward and Brian Goodling is a backup defender/midfielder. Coletti, Rosa and Derrick Shallcross are three of five returning junior letterwinners. The others are defender Jaime Karnilaw and midfielder Eddie Lauerman, both starters. Lenny Rodrigues is a junior midfielder who played on the junior varsity last season. Root has five sophomores on the varsity roster, two of whom are seeing action as starters. Bryan Crawford starts in the backfield as a defender while Evan Kurtin has started as a swing forward/midfielder. The other sophomores are defender Stephen Gregg, midfielder John Buban and forward Tom Weeks. "With so many young players, we started out with many of them playing as individuals," continued Root. "As the season has progressed, they have started coming together and are playing more like a team now. I look for continued improvement with every game we play." The future looks bright for the Warriors as there are 18 student/athletes at the junior varsity level and a like number on the freshmen squad that is off to a 2-1 start. "We had more candidates come out this year than ever before," stated Root. " In fact, we had to cut more individuals than every before and that is the only negative in our program at this time." Watchung Hills' game against Phillipsburg was postponed because of the World Trade Center tragedy and that game is tentatively set to be made up on October 22. With the improvement that has been shown since the opening setback to Franklin, one objective this young team can achieve is to match last season's win total of six games as the foundation is set for a major turnaround in the 2002 season. |
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