By Jim Hintelmann
MIDDLETOWN TOWNSHIP – After 46 years as varsity soccer coach at Christian Brothers Academy, Dan Keane has finally announced his retirement, and his last team could be one of his better squads.
The Colts (2-1) used balanced scoring and a tight defense to shut out Middletown South, 6-0, in an early season A Division North matchup. It was the second shutout for CBA after blanking Middletown North, 8-0, in its opener last week.
“We can score in multiple areas,” said Keane. “Today we had six different players score and our defense was very good, but we have to play very hard in each game.
“We lost to Peddie Saturday, 1-0,” he said. “They have a very strong team. We had hoped to rebound today, and we did. I was happy about that.”
Patrick Kollman scored the first goal for CBA at 19:31 when he got free on a breakaway and kicked it in from five yards out.
As it turned out, that was all the scoring CBA needed as it dominated the rest of the game with goalie Aedan Boriotti having to make only one save.
CBA scored minutes later when Thomas Judge got free in close and scored for a 2-0 lead.
CBA’s Nick Meyer opened the second half with a goal, but injured his knee on the play. “A player ran into me just after I scored the goal” said Meyer, who hopes to play soccer at Fordham next year. “We have a good team this year and I thought that we outplayed Peddie. We had our chances but couldn’t score.”
CBA made it 4-0 midway in the second half when Aaron Robertson stole the ball and scored from eight yards away. Scott Misson and Tim Mikulski scored the final CBA goals. “Freehold Township should be a great game,” said Keane “They beat us in the conference final last year and are ranked No. 1 going into this season.
“I’ve had 46 years of teaching and 42 years of coaching,” said. Keane. “It’s time that I take it easy. In fact, my first game as a head coach came here at Middletown South. We won the game, but I can’t remember the score.”
Keane had many memorable moments at CBA with five state championships and eight Shore Conference titles, but his best team was the unbeaten 2011 championship team.
“They were just a great, talented team” said Keane. “We had seven Division I players. It was a once in a lifetime team.”
The 1998 Non-Public A championship team was also a highlight for Keane.
“The finals were against Delbarton,” said Keane. “They were favored, but we played a great game and beat them, 5-0.
“We also beat Neptune, 3- 1, that year to win the Shore Conference championship,” Keane recalled. “There must have been 3,000 people at that game.”
“CBA has a lot of talent,” said Middletown South coach Pat Petretta. “We knew that going in. We tried to look for any weakness but couldn’t find any. We thought that a weak spot might be their goalie, we didn’t have any opportunity to test him.
