Colts hoping their slow start is just a memory
CBA playing better as postseason arrives
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

SCOTT PILLING staff CBA's William Llapis fires the ball up the field during a game at Middletown North on Oct. 11.

With the Shore Conference postseason tournament only days away, the Christian Brothers Academy soccer team finds itself in a very unfamiliar position.

For the first time in a long time, the Colts are not among the elite teams in the league. Instead, they've struggled most of the season and came into Monday's regular-season finale at Howell with a 7-6-1 record, quite a contrast for a perennial power whose long history of success includes six Shore Conference championships and four state titles.

"Each year everybody expects us to be a powerhouse," said veteran head coach Dan Keane, now in his 29th season at CBA. "But we have learned that sometimes even though the kids try their best, you're just not as strong as in other years.

"We're just not where we need to be," he added. "We've given up an awful lot of goals and our scoring is down compared to past years. It's been like rebuilding, in a way."

Not that Keane didn't see it coming. CBA graduated a number of key players from its 2004 team that won the Shore Conference crown, and then lost several more from last year's 10-6-1 team that advanced to the league quarterfinals before losing to Toms River North.

"We graduated a good senior class and we knew our JV team, which had a lot of kids move up, was not a strong team," Keane pointed out. "But I still thought we'd be good. I thought we'd be a little better than 7-6-1."

But Keane has certainly been coaching long enough to know that programs (even the most successful ones) sometimes go through cycles, and he is not surprised the Colts have struggled most of this season.

"No, not really," he said. "Each year is different and this year's group has not scored a lot, and when you don't get goals, you're not going to win. It's just a matter of some years you don't get enough goals to win."

The good news, however, is that after winning only two of its first eight games, the CBA soccer team appears to be getting hot at the just the right time. In fact, going into Monday's game, the Colts had won five of their last six games.

"At one point this season we were only 2-5-1 and now we're 7-6-1," Keane noted. "It just took us a while to come together, but the chemistry on the team is better. We adjusted to what we have and I think once we put a couple of goals in, the kids began to get confidence."

An increase in scoring production has been one of the main keys to the CBA turnaround the second half of the season.

"For most of the season we were basically scoring one goal a game," Keane said. "But we've scored 12 goals in our last three games, so that helped.

"The team has really been jelling lately and now we get ready for the postseason, first the Shore Conference playoffs and then hopefully the state tournament."

The Shore Conference Tournament begins Thursday with eight games at the site of the higher-seed teams. The quarterfinals are set for Saturday with the semifinals and championship game next week.

"We won't be in the top group like we usually are," Keane said, "but we're just hoping to get a home game out of it. We'll see what happens."

If the Colts intend to make something happen in the tournament, it will be another group of upperclassmen who will lead them. Of the 22 players on this year's squad, 10 are seniors and another nine are juniors, with three sophomores rounding out the roster.

One of those seniors is forward Mike Razzoli, who leads the team in scoring with six goals. Another is goalie Scott McAileff, who had recorded four shutouts.

"He's probably our best player," Keane said. "Even with the losses we've had, he's been very consistent and played very good."

Another key senior is midfielder Vito Smurro, while junior Jimmy Lannon at sweeper anchors the back line of defense.

And while CBA hasn't been the powerhouse soccer team they usually are this time of year, Keane insists this season hasn't been that much different from any of his previous 28.

"It's like any season. You make sure the kids work hard in practice and get ready to play the game," he said. "Maybe at the beginning of the season we were playing worse than we were, but now we're playing better. Things tend to even out.

"Going into the tournament, we're confident and the kids are happy," Keane concluded. "The last three weeks have been better than the first three or four weeks, so we feel OK. Now we'll see what happens."