Five CVC boys soccer teams play for sectional titles Friday
Nov 14, 2024
After a monumental sectional semifinal round Tuesday in which all five remaining Colonial Valley Conference Colonial Division teams advanced, Princeton High, Steinert High, Robbinsville High, Notre Dame High and Princeton Day School will play for five different New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Tournament sectional titles Friday.
Of that quintet, Princeton, Steinert and Robbinsville, all of whom reached a sectional final last year, will each get to play on their home fields this time around.
Head coach Ryan Walsh’s third-seeded Tigers (16-2-5), who are on an 11-game unbeaten streak after stopping second-seeded Manalapan, 2-0, on the road Tuesday, will get to host fifth-seeded Monroe in the Central Jersey Group IV final at 1 p.m. Friday.
The 16-5-1 Falcons beat top-seeded Hunterdon Central (for the second time this season), 3-2, Tuesday. Monroe, which is in the midst of a five-game winning streak, defeated the two other Mercer County squads it played this year – Peddie, 2-0 Sept. 24 and Steinert, 3-2, Nov. 1.
Head coach Anthony Tessein’s 16-4-3 Spartans are the third seed in Central Jersey Group III, yet got the 2 p.m. home game Friday by defeating seventh-seeded Burlington Township, 1-0, Tuesday.
Steinert will take on ninth-seeded Long Branch (11-10), which knocked off fourth-seeded Middletown South, 3-0, Tuesday for the Green Wave’s ninth consecutive victory. Friday’s game will be live streamed on wbcbsports.com and on WBCB Sports’ Facebook page.
Head coach Jeff Fisher’s 18-1-3 Ravens are the second seed in Central Jersey Group II and will host fourth-seeded Delran at 4 p.m. Tuesday on the Steven J. Mayer Athletic Complex turf.
Defending Group III state runner-up R’ville survived a penalty-kick shootout with sixth-seeded Manasquan to advance, while the 12-7-2 Bears, who have been the champion in Group II South for nine seasons running, knocked off its Burlington County Scholastic League Liberty Division rival Cinnaminson, 1-0, Tuesday to get a shot at another title. This will be a rematch of their Oct. 17 regular-season matchup at Delran, which the Ravens won, 1-0.
Head coach Bryan Fisher’s sixth-seeded Notre Dame club will head to the top-seeded Pingry School for a 2 p.m. clash on Bugliari World Cup Field in the Non-Public A South Tournament final.
The 18-6-1 Irish survived a shootout at second-seeded St. Augustine Prep Tuesday, while the 17-3 Big Blue rushed past fourth-seeded St. Joseph’s High of Metuchen, 7-2. Head coach Miller Bugliari’s team, the Somerset County Tournament champion, which has won nine in a row – outscoring opponents, 43-5, during that run, has not had a setback since Oct. 1 and has only lost to Hunterdon Central High, the Gill-St. Bernard’s School and St. Benedict’s Prep this season.
Head coach Gary Roberts’ sixth-seeded PDS squad will play for a Non-Public B South title when it heads to the top-seeded Moorestown Friends School for a 2 p.m. game Friday.
The 8-13 Panthers upset second-seeded Wildwood Catholic, 1-0, on the road Tuesday. The 11-7-1 Foxes, who won the BCSL’s Patriot Division, defeated the fifth-seeded Ranney School, 5-2, Tuesday to return to the final it won last season. Moorestown Friends is the defending state runner-up in this group.
Should Princeton, Steinert or Robbinsville win Friday, they will play in the state semifinals Tuesday at the home field of their respective South Jersey sectional champions.
Should Notre Dame or PDS win, they will move on to the boys’ Non-Public A & B state finals, respectively. Those are scheduled to be held either Wednesday or Thursday of next week at Franklin High in Somerset.
The boys’ public school state finals will also take place at Franklin High – Sunday, Nov. 24. The Group III championship kicks off that day’s events at 10 a.m., followed by the Group IV final at 12:30 p.m. The Group I title game will be held at 3 p.m. ahead of the 5:30 p.m. Group II final.