Allentown starts off with two heartbreaking losses

By george albano
Staff Writer

JERRY WOLKOWITZ Allentown’s Chris McCans tires to fend off a Notre Dame defender during a game last Friday in Allentown.

If high school soccer games were just a few minutes shorter, the Allentown High boys’ team might have been unbeaten going into Tuesday’s game against Princeton.

Instead, the Redbirds were a deceiving 0-2 following a pair of heartbreaking, one-goal losses. They dropped their season opener last Friday to Colonial Valley Conference rival Notre Dame of Lawrenceville 4-3 in double overtime.

Then, on Monday afternoon, the Allentown booters dropped a 2-1, non-league setback to Manchester, which scored the winning goal with only seven minutes to go.

"If anything, I could say we almost had two ties," Allentown coach Joe Stanzione said after Monday’s tough loss. "It would have been nice if we got out of there with two ties against two pretty good teams like that."

With a few breaks, the Redbirds could have easily come away with a pair of victories, too.

"We had a goal called back against Notre Dame, and today we had a couple of unlucky breaks. We had some chances near the goal, but just couldn’t finish," the coach said.

A win against Notre Dame would have been even extra special for Stanzione, who graduated from there in 1988 and played soccer for the Fighting Irish under current coach Mike Perone.

"Plus Notre Dame is a little bit of a rival since some of their kids live in town here and go there," Stanzione said. "It makes the game a little more enticing for both teams.

"And Manchester used to be a Shore Conference rival when we played in that league, so we’ve tried to keep that going," he added. "We’re a Group II school but we play a lot of Group III and IV teams. Manchester is Group II, like us, so it makes for a good game every year. They’re pretty good, too."

The Redbirds went into Monday’s contest severely undermanned.

"We had four or five guys out with a virus. We were depleted," the AHS coach said. "We were down to 12 guys so we had to rotate a lot of guys in certain spots so they wouldn’t have to run all game.

"And it was still 1-1 for most of the game. I can’t even say we gave up a goal; they just scored a beautiful goal to win it. All three goals were strong, quality goals. Both teams were evenly matched. They just happened to bury one late in the game," he said.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Redbirds, either. Princeton, Tuesday’s opponent, was "one of the better teams in the state," according to Stanzione, while on Thursday Allentown hosts Steinert, another formidable opponent. Of course the Redbirds hope to be a little healthier by then.

One player who shows no sign of slowing down is senior captain Chris McCans, who moved from the back last year to up front this season and has had no trouble making the adjustment.

In fact, McCans scored two of Allentown’s three goals against Notre Dame and assisted on the Redbirds’ lone goal against Manchester.

"To go from the back to the front is not easy," Stanzione said, "but Chris has done it with no problem."

Danny Ferraro, one of the players who was out sick on Monday, scored Allentown’s third goal against Notre Dame, which tied the game at 3-3 and sent it into overtime.

Meanwhile midfielder Brett Mallinson, another senior tri-captain, scored the goal against Manchester on a header off a cross from McCans.

"He had three guys on him and still made a beautiful pass to Brett," Stanzione said. "Teams know to key on Chris."

The other tri-captain is junior Trevor Provost, who also plays at midfield with Mallinson.

"All three captains are really vocal leaders," Stanzione said.

Another key player is junior forward David Nicholson, who has started since his freshman year and who Stanzione calls "one of our strongest players physically."

"He gets a lot of chances near the net," the coach added. "He’s a very gifted athlete."

Stanzione is also high on sophomore Matt Grinkevich, who was injured all of last season. He returned this season and was slated to start at midfield as an outside back, but when starting sweeper Steve Gorfman came down ill and was expected to miss a month, Stanzione moved Grinkevich to sweeper.

"He’s turned out to be a pretty good sweeper and he’s only a sophomore," Stanzione said. "He has good vision and very good speed. He’s a pretty quick kid."

The goaltender is Robbie Graham, who played as a freshman but took the last two years off.

"Now he’s back as a senior and he’s doing all right," Stanzione said. "He’s already come up with some big plays and is gaining confidence."

Allentown is coming off a 9-11 season from a year ago in which the Redbirds made the state tournament and knocked off Rumson-Fair Haven 3-2 on a late goal before falling to Colts Neck, one of the top three teams in the state, 3-1.

"Setting a goal to make the state tournament is every team’s ambition," Stanzione said. "But starting out 0-2 and with our schedule, it’s going to be difficult to accomplish that. But these kids won’t hang their heads. They just keep playing, and I think we’ll be all right. It’s just a matter of working out the kinks."

And, of course, surviving those last few minutes.