Coach: Boys Soccer Scores a Win Against Elizabeth

This update provided by coach Mike Curci. If you see a game we were unable to cover, please feel free to send over the score and photos.

Another game, another win. And while the road to a 13-0 record hasn’t always been easy, with each victory the achievement of staying unbeaten this long into the season isn’t lost on anyone who plays for the Cranford boy’s varsity soccer team.

They continue to take this soccer journey with a “one game at a time” attitude.

The Cougars continued their winning ways with an impressive 2-1 win over Elizabeth, who ousted the Cougars in a 1-0 nail-biter in last year’s quarterfinals of the Union County Tournament. Cranford came into Monday’s match unblemished after their first 12 games, and were looking for redemption at Williams Field in Elizabeth. It turned out to be a gutsy performance against a fast and skilled Elizabeth team, who won last year’s UCT final.

“Our players had motivation from last year,” said Cranford head coach Mike Curci. “We have a long memory when it comes to this stuff, and most of our starters still remembered how tough that loss was a year ago. It may have been just a regular season game tonight, but it kept our unbeaten streak going and we wanted to beat them on the road. That was all the motivation we needed.”

After an entertaining first half that ended scoreless, Cranford took the lead when senior Josh Barrera headed the ball off the post and into the net to make it 1-0 at about 15 minutes into the half. Sweeper Pat Kaskiw sent a long ball to Ray El-Khoury, who then found Barrera near the goal.

Junior center midfielder Connor DeMars followed that up five minutes later with a beautiful header off a long throw-in by Ryan Lopes, which he flicked in with his back to the goal from six yards out, placing it over the goalkeeper’s outstretched arms to make it 2-0. It was DeMars’ fifth goal of the season and turned out to be the game winner.

“DeMars is outstanding in the air, he just knows how to position himself to get the best results," said Curci. “And Lopes continues to be a great weapon. His throw-ins are almost always perfect, even on the widest field, and that creates havoc in the box time and again. He has seven assists, all on throw-ins.

Elizabeth cut the lead to 2-1 on a penalty kick by Kevin Hernandez with 15 minutes to play, but the Cougars defense withstood the challenge for the hard-fought victory.

Cranford, ranked No. 10 in the state rankings and No. 1 in Union County, will play host to Johnson on Thursday, October 15 at 7:00 p.m. at Memorial Field before having the rematch with Elizabeth in Saturday’s quarterfinal round of the county tournament, also at Memorial Field in Cranford. Game time is set for 2:00 p.m.