By Jim Hintelmann
NEPTUNE – A year ago, Notre Dame of Lawrenceville upset Christian Brothers Academy, 5-2, in the second round of the NJSIAA Non Public A boys soccer tournament, but there was nothing close to an upset Tuesday when the two teams met again in a Non Public A semifinal at Summerfield School.
The game was originally scheduled to be played at CBA but the bad weather conditions forced a switch to Summerfield School, which has a turf field. CBA’s field is all grass.
With Pat Kollman and Tom Judge each registering a hat trick (three goals), top-seeded CBA (18-3-1) rolled to a 10-2 rout of the fourth-seeded the Irish in a game played in windy, rainy weather conditions.
It was the eighth win in a row for the Colts, who have already won the Shore Conference Tournament and A Division North championship.
“The difference this year is that Notre Dame had a player that scored four goals on us last season and is now playing well at Rutgers,” said CBA coach Dan Keane, who is in his final year at CBA. He will be stepping down at the end of the season after a 38-year coaching career at the school.
“We played very well today,” he said. “This team has exceeded my expectations because most of the players are juniors. Once we scored the first goal, things kind of snowballed for us.”
It was the first varsity hat trick for Judge, but Kollman, who has 15 goals for the season, has three for his varsity career.
Aaron Robertson opened the scoring from CBA, and then Kollman, Matthew Thorsheim, Judge and Nick Meyer followed in quick order to build up a 5-0 lead with 18 minutes left in the half. The first three shots of the game for CBA resulted in goals.
Notre Dame (12-4-1), which is in a bit of a rebuilding season, finally scored on a shot by Derek Czerniak with five minutes left in the half, but Kollman scored his second goal of the game to give CBA a 6-1 halftime lead.
had a hat trick during Tuesday’s NJSIAA South Jersey Non Public A semifinal game against Notre Dame at Neptune’s Summerfield School. Photo: Sean Simmons
Judge scored early in the second half off a direct kick to put CBA up 7-1. Coby St. Phard scored for Notre Dame, but Nick Meyer, Kollman and Aidan Conaghan scored the final three goals of the game to complete the rout. It was Conaghan’s first goal of the season.
CBA goalies Andrew Boriotti and Cooper Lang combined for eight saves while Thorsheim also had three assists.
Notre Dame coach Mike Perone, who has been at Notre Dame for over 30 years, and Keane are long time rivals.
“We’ve had some great games over the years,” said Keane.
The game was held up for a half hour just before halftime when Notre Dame goalie Robert Bosi suffered a neck injury and had to be transported to Jersey Shore Medical Center, which is located only a mile from the field.
CBA played St. Augustine of Richland for the South Jersey title Thursday and, if it won, would meet the North Jersey Non Public A winner Sunday morning.
