THRILLER IN THE MIST - Boys Soccer: Manalapan 2, Washington Twp. 0

By Scott Stump - Senior Editor

     NEPTUNE - The way Manalapan's defense and junior goalie Jake Grinkevich have been playing in the NJSIAA Boys Soccer Tournament, grabbing a one-goal lead seems like forcing an opponent to climb Mount Everest just to get back into the game.
     If it's that hard to come back from one goal, two goals is pretty much insurmountable when facing the Braves, and Washington Township found that out on Tuesday night in an NJSIAA Group IV semifinal at Memorial Field. A goal by senior Adam Rice in the 49th minute and another by Greg Grzelak in the 68th minute, both on assists by senior forward George Quintano, meant a relatively easy 2-0 victory over the Minutemen and a second straight trip to the Group IV final at The College of New Jersey, the alma mater of Braves head coach John Natoli.
     Manalapan (20-3-2) can set the school single-season record for wins with a victory over Clifton at 6 p.m. on Friday at TCNJ, where the Braves lost to West Orange in last year's Group IV final. Washington Township, the South Jersey champ, was coming off its first sectional title school history before being denied a berth in the Group IV final by a team on a mission.
     "I definitely think we're just as motivated, maybe even more this year,'' Rice said. "We know that we haven't gotten that much respect around the state this year. We want to make a statement against whichever team comes out of the North (Jersey) bracket.''
     The Braves have already made an impressive statement thus far as they have yet to surrender a goal in state tournament play, as Grinkevich, one of the top goalies in the Shore, only needed to make a pair of saves to record his 15th shutout of the season and the 40th of his career in 70 games. Manalapan has outscored its opponents, 5-0, in four games, and allowed barely any legitimate scoring opportunities to the Minutemen (17-3-2) on Tuesday night.
     The game was scoreless at halftime, with Manalapan's closest call coming on a goal that was disallowed off a free kick after Rice collided with the goalie after he had secured the ball in the 26th minute. That was still better than anything Washington Township was able to get against Manalapan's impenetrable defense amidst the fog at Memorial Field.
      "We wanted to just get a little more pressure going forward,'' Rice said about Manalapan's second-half attack. "(In the first half), we were just trying to figure out what they were going to do. It was similar to what we did in the Howell game (a 1-0 win in the Central Jersey Group IV final).''
      Quintano ran on to a through ball and had a wide-open look on the net in the 46th minute before missing wide right, but the Braves kept attacking before finally breaking through.
      "I had a chance the first five minutes and I missed, but other players were able to put the ball in the net,'' Quintano said.
      Rice won a ball near midfield and played a little give-and-go with Caner Semen before working with Quintano to get on the scoreboard.
     "I saw Georgie coming through, so I played it to him and he gave me a great ball back,'' Rice said. "We've been working on that all season, just trying to get our midfielders running through, and we picked a good time to do it.''
     Rice one-touched a shot with his right foot into the right side of the net for his 11th goal of the season and a 1-0 advantage with 30:01 left in the game.
     "Me and Adam have really good chemistry,'' Quintano said. "I knew he was going to run through, and I was able to get it to him. Once we got that goal, our goal was to get one more goal, put them away, and then play defense because no one can get by our defense right now.''
     Grzelak ensured Manalapan would follow Quintano's script to the letter when Quintano crossed a ball from right near the end line on the right side of the field that Grzelak headed into the right side of the net for his third goal of the season and a 2-0 lead with 21:29 left in the game.
     "It was pretty close there, almost out of bounds, but (Quintano) crossed it, and I headed it right in,'' Grzelak said.
     "We haven't given up a goal in states, so for them to have to score two to get back into the game, that was definitely big to get that second goal,'' Rice said.
     Grinkevich didn't even have to make his first save until there were 16 minutes left in the game, and it was an easy one.
     "We're comfortable playing in low-scoring games - our defense has been unbelievable back there,'' Rice said.
     With Grinkevich in goal since his freshman year, the Braves have a record of 54-3-7 when he allows two goals or less, and that number becomes 50-1-5 when it is one goal or less. That, along with finally vanquishing nemesis Howell in the state tournament after going winless in three previous meetings with the Rebels including the Shore Conference Tournament final, has to give the Braves some confidence heading into Friday.
      "(Winning on Friday) would definitely be something that would be like, 'Mission accomplished,''' Rice said. "Since we've won A North, Shore Conference and Central Jersey (Group IV) since my time here, (we have) everything but that state championship.''
      "That's all we talked about since Aug. 17 was getting back to TCNJ and winning it,'' Grzelak said.

E-mail: stump@digitalsports.com

Box score
Manalapan 2, Washington Twp. 0

Goals: Rice (Quintano) 49:59; Grzelak (Quintano) 58:31; Saves: (M) Grinkevich 2; (W) McMullen 3. Shots: Manalapan 5-2.