Sports Shorts

The Allentown Central Redbirds Pop Warner Football organization will be holding its Mandatory Parent’s Meeting on June 1 at 7 pm in the Upper Freehold Regional Elementary School Auditorium. Many important topics for the upcoming season. Come out to meet the board and coaches.

The Redbirds are also looking for Midget football players (ages 11,12,13,14; weight 95-150 pounds). For more information, call Dennis Todd (609) 499-3674.

The Seventh Annual Seabrook Golf Classic will be held on June 24 at Gambler’s Ridge Golf Course, in Cream Ridge. Proceeds benefit the Seabrook Benevolent Care Fund. The best-ball format event will begin at noon with registration and lunch. There will be a shotgun start at 1 p.m. Call Janet Miller at (732) 643-2000, ext. 5178, to register to play or for sponsorship opportunities. The per-person fee is $125 (a portion is tax-deductible) and includes lunch, greens fees, cart, gifts, hole-in-one contest and awards.

The Allentown Charge U-10 girls soccer team traveled to Brick Township to take on the Lady Bandits this past Sunday. Though the sky was threatening at the start of the match, the Charge came out strong. The midfield, led by Jamie Perritt, Jillian Frein and Kimberly Wilson, gave strong support to the front line of Hannah Murphy, Lena Campbell, Stephanie Sjaastad, Kelly Rocklein, and Krysta Plummer. They continually knocked on the door, and at the 10-minute mark, Kelly Rocklein was able to convert a beautifully crossed ball into the goal for 1-0 Charge lead. The skies then opened up with heavy rain, but that did not stop Kelly from scoring her second goal of the match with a shot from the left side of the penalty box that eluded the Lady Bandit goalie. Halftime came and the rain started to lessen. In the second half, the defense, led by Erin Drennan, Bianca Covitz and goalie Shannon Abbott, came up big with solid play that turned back the Lady Bandits and limited their scoring opportunities. The Charge kept the scoring going with another well-placed ball crossed in front of the goalmouth and converted this time by Jillian Frein from her center halfback position. Lena Campbell completed the Charge scoring for the day with an individual effort down the left side of the field and a high shot into the corner of the goal. Allentown played a solid match with precision passing to keep possession of the ball throughout much of the match leading to their 4-0 win. They next take on the Freehold Hurricanes on June 1 in Allentown.

The Allentown X-treme U-8 boys soccer team went 3-for-3 in a busy week of play to improve their record to an impressive 7-2-0. The X-treme kicked off the series with a 8-1 victory over the Lacey Lightning Tuesday evening. William Sjaastad started the action off with three goals in the first five minutes with the support of offensive linemen Matthew Derisi, Jake Alessi, Justin Scarano, Rory Green, and Kevin Pereira. Brody Zauner, Joey Patrylow, Connor Sullivan, and Kevin Primich held tight in the backfield. Robert Ellerson made his post-injury debut while Josh Samuels protected the net during the first half of play and Eric Sullivan for the second.

The X-treme traveled to Lacey for a repeat performance Saturday morning. Sjaastad began the scoring session by pocketing a pass from Scarano. Sjaastad then provided the cross which would be diverted into the back of the net by Green. Eric Sullivan did an awesome job holding his position while his twin brother, Connor, amazed the spectators with his stellar performance. Zauner was solid on defense, as Samuels kept the net empty for the first half of play. Derisi, however, was not satisfied with a 2-0 lead and decided to drive a goal-post rebound home early on in the second half. Sjaastad soon capitalized on a breakaway and scored again later from a Patrylow assist. Pereira and Alessi tag-teamed the next two goals followed soon thereafter by a Samuels assist to Scarano. Samuels scored the final X-treme goal with the assistance of Pereira.

The biggest game of the week came early Sunday morning in Millstone. Unfortunately, less than 30 seconds into the match, Millstone was granted a penalty kick. Josh Samuel, the Allentown goalkeeper, made a fantastic save to set the tone for the rest of the match. From this point forward, the X-Treme never looked back. Twelve minutes into the game, William Sjaastad scored as a result of a great pass from Jake Alessi. Mathew DeRisi converted on a penalty kick and Justin Scarano assisted on another goal by William Sjaastad. By the end of the first half, it was Allentown with a commanding 3-0 lead. The beginning of the second half was marked with an offensive charge by the Millstone Patriots. The Allentown defense of Joey Patrylow, Brody Zauner, Eric and Connor Sullivan stopped the offensive onslaught of the Patriots. Rory Green and Kevin Pereira provided the spark in the second half to lead the X-Treme to a 6-0 victory. The X-Treme complete their inaugural season on June 4 at Mark Harbourt with a start time of 3 p.m. The X-Treme will try to avenge an earlier loss against Middletown and claim sole position of second place in the standings.

The Allentown MASA Grizzlies U-11 boys soccer team traveled to Jackson on Sunday and faced the Cyclones shorthanded. With several key players unavailable, the Grizzlies fielded only nine players and knew they were in for a workout. But they pressured the Cyclones from the start. Midfielders Kyle Alston, Nick Caruso, Scott Nicholson, and Matt Fleischacker worked the ball effectively on the wings to spread the Cyclones defense and created opportunities for lone Grizzlies forward John Lansing. On a strong solo effort from the left side, Lansing put the Grizzlies on the board first, but the Cyclones responded immediately and tied the score 1-1. Grizzlies’ Nick Caruso made a run up the right wing, made the cutback, and found Scott Nicholson at the edge of the box, who lofted a high shot over the Cyclones goalkeeper to regain the lead for good. Grizzlies defenders Zack Caruso, Danny Lamb and Matt Molnar easily ran down and contained numerous Cyclones solo runs. Zack Caruso’s continuous, heads-up pressure on the ball was instrumental in neutralizing the much taller Cyclones striker. Grizzlies’ goalie Bob Millar handled the few remaining Cyclones threats and made a nice save by diving on a hard, low shot. On Grizzlies attacks in the second half, Lansing earned two more goals for the hat trick, with one coming on a bizarre play where his shot bounced straight up high off the cross bar where the defenders couldn’t find it, and then it somehow bounced off the ground and into the goal. The final score was 4-1 Grizzlies, who take their first-place 8-1-0 record to the Memorial Day Tournament in Hopewell this weekend.

This weekend UFA 40 were host to a team from Brick. Past matches between these two sides have always been very closely contested, and this would prove to be no different. UFA were the first to get on the scoreboard with a fine effort from Steve Sinai. After taking a nice pass from Dan Caruso in midfield, he rounded a couple of defenders and fired a low toe poke into the corner of the net to give his team an early lead. Brick fought back, and after a series of attacks were denied, they eventually won a corner. From the ensuing kick, their center forward scored with a powerful header to level the score, and just minutes later they were able to take the lead after the UFA defense was caught upfield, and not ready for the fast counter attack. Halftime saw the home town favorites trailing 2-1. The second half resumed with UFA beginning to take control of play in the middle of the park, and quickly went ahead with two fine goals from Mike Leyden, one a strong low drive that left the goalie no chance. At this point the game was still in the balance and Brick continued to push forward looking for the equalizer, and it came when UFA failed to clear the ball properly, allowing the visitors to slide the ball past advancing goalie Briin Reed and into the net. The game see-sawed back and forth when, with 10 minutes to go, following a long punt from Reed, Larry Kaplan one-timed his shot past the stranded keeper to give UFA the lead which they would not relinquish. Two minutes before the final whistle, Kaplan got his second, to close out the scoring, a 5-3 win. Alan Nicholls and Amaro Pereira again had strong performances anchoring the defense with Didier Mory playing his usual utility role, filling in wherever needed. UFA 40 maintain their stranglehold on the No. 1 spot in the league with just four games left to play. There is no game scheduled for Memorial weekend; play resumes in two weeks away to Sayreville.

The Allentown United U-13 girls soccer team defeated the Howell United 3-0 this past Sunday. United came out ready to play and began putting pressure on Howell’s defense. United took a 1-0 lead when Ashley Pereira made a nice pass to Dawn Taylor, who dribbled down the line and shot it into the upper corner of the goal. In the second half, it was all United. They took a 2-0 lead when Kelly Bailey fed the ball to Ashley Perritt, who scored on a beautiful shot over the goalie’s head. Minutes later, Ashley Perritt got her second goal on another great shot from outside the box to make the final score 3-0. Diana Braun made a couple of key saves for United to preserve the shutout. United’s defense, led by Meghan Valnoski, Brittany Hodul, Ashley Pereira and Shannon Buckley, all had a solid game. United will travel to Orlando Florida to participate in the Disney Memorial Weekend Tournament. United will be able to experience the feeling of playing soccer on the Disney World fields.