Helping Out The Club
August 15, 2002
By David P. Biggy – Staff Writer – Published in the Times-Beacon Newspapers August 15, 2002
“Helping out the club”
Pontier, Krebs big part of Boca victory
By DAVID P. BIGGY
Staff Writer
Playing in the Super-Y Soccer League certainly is a challenge.
And several local players have been a big part of the Jersey Shore Boca 17-and-under squad that has been playing since June, taking on the challenge of playing against some of the toughest club soccer competition on the East Coast.
Lacey’s Christian Pontier and Andy Krebs are two of them. The other is Tuckerton’s Jack Facemyer.
Neither of the three high school standouts played in this past weekend’s contest against defending national champ FC Delco, as the Boca club suffered an 8-1 bruising, but both Lacey youngsters were instrumental in Boca’s 2-1, come-from-behind win over its state rival, the South Jersey Barons, last Wednesday.
In what has become one of the better club rivalries in the entire league, Boca and the Barons squared off in one of the most competitive matches of the 2002 SYL season for the both sides.
The Barons scored first — during the 27th minute — when Ryan Morgan poked in a low ball just inside the near post after a scramble inside the Boca penalty area.
From there, the Boca defense was tremendous, led by the play of Brian Simpson, Nick Gkionis, Chris Jennings and Arjun Thakker.
Boca’s first goal came during the 54th minute after Pontier, who will begin his senior year at Lacey High School in a few weeks, won a ball on the right side, about 40 yards from the goal.
After getting around a defender, Pontier served a high ball toward the back post, which found a sprinting Mike Baiata, who buried it past the outstretched Barons’ keeper.
Boca maintained control of the midfield for most of the match as Baiata, Pat Bulvanoski, Will McMaster and Krebs , who also will begin his senior year at Lacey next month, slowed the Barons’ attack in the middle of the pitch.
Krebs, who usually plays an outside-midfield position, wore the captain’s armband for Boca the entire match, and moved into the central-midfield spot because of an injury to Boca’s regular central midfielder, Facemyer.
“Andy is a very hard working player,” said Boca coach Walt Konopka. “With an injury to Jack, we had to move Andy to the central midfield spot, and he did very well there. Andy worked non-stop for the entire 90 minutes and gave the Barons quite a bit of trouble.”
The second goal for Boca came during the 85th minute. Gkionis blasted a shot from about 20 yards out, and the Barons’ keeper had a tough time holding on to the ball. After the ball bounced off the keepers’ arms, Mike Kubas eluded a defender and slipped a shot inside the near post.
Boca goalkeeper Chris Konopka played the entire 90 minutes, facing nine shots and making seven saves.
“This was a very good game for us,” Konopka said. “We played well as a team. The Barons are a top-notch organization, and we are developing a very good rivalry with them since we are both from New Jersey. Our boys came to play.”
With the split during the past week, Boca went to 4-7-1 on the season.
For the season, Pontier and Krebs each have a pair of assists. Pontier has played in eight of Boca’s 11 games, while Krebs has played in six.
The Super Y-League is a National elite youth league which is run and administered directly by the United Soccer Leagues (USL) and the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). It is the only national youth soccer league in North America.
The Jersey Shore Boca is now in its second year of competition in the Super-Y League, and is only one of four soccer clubs in New Jersey invited to participate in the Super-Y League, and the only one from the Monmouth and Ocean County area.
Published in the Times Beacon Newspapers 08/15-16/02
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