Coach: Cougars Move to No. 6 in State

This update is 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.

With the Union County Tournament semifinals on the horizon, the Cranford boy’s varsity soccer team got back to work this week. They prepared with a pair of non-divisional games on Tuesday and Wednesday, defeating Jonathan Dayton Regional 2-0 and battling to a scoreless tie with Plainfield on the road.

The Cougars remain the only unbeaten team in Union County at 16-0-1, moving up a notch to No. 6 in the state rankings, their highest spot in the history of the program. They are still No. 1 in Union County and in the Group 3 rankings.

Tuesday, in the first of back-to-back games, Pat Kaskiw and Pat Hartnett rallied to help the Cougars to a 2-0 win over Dayton. The following day, Plainfield proved a worthy opponent as the two sides battled to a 0-0 tie after 100 minutes of action, giving the Cougars their 11th shutout in 17 games and keeping their unbeaten streak intact.

“We played very well today,” said Cranford head coach Mike Curci. “It was one those road games where we just couldn’t buy a goal, we outshot them 14-3, had a few golden chances but couldn’t convert. Plainfield’s defense did a great job in the air, their keeper made a couple of nice saves, it happens.

He expected the game to be tough. "I saw them take Scotch Plains to a penalty kick shootout after a 2-2 tie Saturday in the county quarterfinals, so this result doesn’t come as a big surprise," said Curci. "The intensity level was high, both teams played hard from start to finish. I thought this was a good prep for our match with Union on Saturday night in the UCT.”

The Cranford defense came up big once again, with Kaskiw, Eric Walano, Ryan Lopes and Rob Ghiretti shutting down the Cardinals offense.

“We put Ray El-Khoury on their top player, Kevin Veliz,” said Curci. “Ray did a great job of marking him. He did the same against Naranjo of Elizabeth. Ray is big, strong, fast and skilled and he has that focus and high intensity it takes to get the job done. Our defense did the rest.”

Goalie Scott Boyer earned the shutout with three saves, but the offense just couldn’t catch a break.

“We were on the doorstep the entire match and in overtime, Connor DeMars hit a beautiful free kick that hit the crossbar,” Curci added. “Sometimes this game comes down to a matter of inches. Obviously, we’re disappointed we didn’t win, but I’m not disappointed in the effort. At this point, I don’t think we could’ve asked for anything more.”

Cranford can clinch the No. 1 seed in North Jersey Section 2, Group 3 with a win over Hillside on Friday scheduled for Walnut Avenue field at 4:00 p.m. The top-seeded Cougars will then face fourth-seeded Union in the Union County Tournament semifinal Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. at Arthur L. Johnson High School in Clark.