It was a great eight days for the Allentown X-treme U9 boys soccer team. Playing away against the Twin County Shooters, the X-treme’s defense was perfect. Brody Zauner, Joey Patrylow, Robert Ellerson, Kevin Primich and Conner Sullivan combined their talents for a shutout. Goalie Josh Samuels did not touch the ball all half. The scoring started early, when Jake Alessi converted a cross by Eric Sullivan to find the back of the net. Not long after, Justin Scarano assisted William Sjaastad to make it 2-0 Allentown. That’s how the first half ended. With a comfortable lead, coach Jody Scarano decide to switch around the lineup. This didn’t slow down the X-treme, who extended the lead when Kevin Pierera scored after a corner kick by Sjaastad was placed perfectly on the 6-yard line. With the offense playing defense and defense playing offense, Allentown had Twin County confused. Quick outside runs by Tommy McCarthy on the right and Matt DeRisi up the middle seemed to tire the defense. Scoring was complete when Josh Samuels (first-half goalie) took a direct kick from 35 yards out and put it over the keeper’s head. The X-treme’s second-half goalie, Eric Sullivan needed only two saves to record the shutout. The game was a great chance for players to sharpen their skills for the following week’s schedule.

The next game was against the New Egypt Rangers. The X-treme went up early as Matt DeRisi took a pass from Jake Alessi to make it 1-0. Within minutes, DeRisi netted number two off a pass from Kevin Pierera. With a 2-0 lead, the defense stayed strong. The second half started with a New Egypt goal. Allentown kept up the pressure with shots from Rory Green and Tommy McCarthy. The Defense held and the game ended 2-1.

Saturday the X-Treme traveled to play the Toms River (TR) Baracudas. TR and Allentown were each 2-0. The first half was all William Sjaastad. He had a hat trick with assists from Scarano, Allessi, and McCarthy. TR scored on a penalty kick The defense saw little action in the first half and Josh Samuels had only one punt. With a comfortable lead, the X-Treme changed things up. There was a goalie change and many position changes. That still didn’t slow down the X-treme. Jake Alessi scored goal number four off a cross by Scarano. TR could not penetrate the defense of Patrylow, Primich and Zauner, and with 10 minutes left in the game DeRisi made it 5-1. Goalie Eric Sullivan made a last-minute save to end it that way. In two leagues, the X-treme are 3-0 and 1-1. This week’s home game is against Howell.

The Millstone Mitey Mite Eagles’ dream of a perfect season ended Sunday when they ran into an inspired Allentown Redbirds team and suffered their first setback of the season, 12-6. Despite a 60-yard TD hook-up from “Hollywood” Mackiewicz to Brian Plutino and a hard-nosed rushing effort from Ian “The Animal” Walker, the Eagles never quite recovered from two first-half scores by the Redbirds. In a game where each yard was fought for in the trenches, the Eagles got good blocking up front from John O’Reilly, Matt McGuiness, Jake Faber, Zach Turner and Alexander “The Crusher” Alves. Leading the way on wide runs was James Abramo, Michael Goldsman and Graham Walkley. The Eagles’ defense firmed up in the second half with solid line play from Dylan Kells, “The Lion” Abilheira, D.J. Griffiths, Danny Giacolona and Steven Meyer. The biggest adjustments came in the secondary, where Pino Henry, “Skeet” Nitti, Richie Mullarkey and Michael “The Blanket” combined to stymie the powerful Redbird passing attack. But all in all, it was not enough. Even with big name players like Sean “The Hulk” Goldsman, Kim Presuto, Anthony Lucarella and “A-Train” Morrone on the roster, it was just not to be. A postgame comment by Tyler “Typhoon” Newman seemed to sum things up best: “Coach Mike told us as long as we tried our best we should be proud of ourselves. We did, and we will continue to try our best for the rest of the season.”

UFA 40 continued their strong start to the season with a convincing win away against Howell. After a very tight first 35 minutes, with chances missed at both ends, it was Dan Caruso who finally broke the deadlock. He burst through on the right, saw his initial shot blocked, but was able to get the rebound and force his second shot into the back of the goal to give UFA 40 a lead that they would not relinquish. They cruised to a comfortable 5-2 victory. Next week UFA 40 are away to Lakewood.

The Allentown United U14 team had a lot on the line on Sunday in an away game against an unbeaten Colts Neck team. Although it was only the third game of the season, they had not yet registered a point in the standings and needed to do something this weekend if they were going to maintain touch with the league leaders.

Coach Pereira juggled his starting line up a little, having Bailey, Holbrook and Myers start up front, giving them the chance to run at the Colts Neck defense and wear them down before eventually switching over to Donnigan, Perritt and Shields. The strategy seemed to work, as the defense held firm, with Shannon Buckley getting the start at outside back in place of the usual starter Ashley Pereira having a great game and the midfield trio working tirelessly, the game went into the half-time break with no score.

Shortly after the restart, Dawn Taylor collected a pass from Ashley Perritt, turned and fired a 25-yard blast over the goalkeeper and into the roof of the net. This would prove to be the catalyst that United needed. They continued to battle against a bigger, stronger Colts Neck team when with 15 minutes to go, Chelsea Donnigan challenged for a 50-50 ball and was injured in the play. The game was held up for 30 minutes as first aid was administered and Donnigan was loaded into an ambulance and taken off for precautionary X-rays. Play resumed with Colts Neck continuing to press forward looking for the equalizer, but Allentown held firm. Diana Braun made a couple of key saves, and Ashley Pereira had her usual solid game in defense, allowing United to pick up their first three points of the season. This was a tremendous all-around squad effort, proving that United belong in Division 1. Next week’s game is in Old Bridge against the Blue Rockets.

The Allentown Charge U-11 girls soccer team, coming off a tough 1-0 loss last week, was determined to change things around. This past Sunday, they traveled to Lakehurst to take on the Lakehurst Manchester Wild Angels. From the opening kick, the Charge pressured the Wild Angels. The ball never even crossed mid-field for 15 minutes, yet it was 20 minutes before the Charge’s Kelly Rocklein finally cracked the Wild Angels defense for a 1-0 halftime score. In the second half, the Charge took complete control and scored four more goals, one each from Jillian Frein, Erin Primich, Lena Campbell and Stephanie Falsetti. The final score was 5-0.

This win showed great team depth and versatility, with players getting opportunities to play different positions from their usual ones. The Charge has a solid group of girls playing a strong game of soccer: Jamie Perritt, Jillian Frein, Taylor Frein, Hannah Murphy, Kim Wilson, Shannon Abbott, Sarah Mottam, Bianca Covitz, Krysta Plummer, Kelly Tohill and Taylor Bachik make up the team. The Charge takes on the Toms River Wildcats Sunday in Toms River.

The Allentown Attack U11 boys travel soccer team got back on the winning track this weekend with a 2-0 victory over the Point Pleasant Vipers. Allentown scored quickly as Steven Hensley broke in on the Vipers’ goal and slipped the ball past the diving goalie into the back of the net to give the Attack the early 1-0 lead.

The game was wide open with Allentown generating numerous scoring attempts only to be thwarted by the Vipers goalie. Anthony Derisi put Allentown ahead by 2-0 as he drilled a long hard shot into the upper corner of the net. Allentown’s goalie, Nathaniel Marquez, had a strong game for the Attack as he came out of the goal with authority to break up several Viper scoring chances. David Cohen played a strong game for the Attack in the middle of the field as he helped generate several scoring opportunities with some deftly placed passes to his wings. Alexander Valentino and Cameron Mory each had some very strong shots go just wide of the net. Allentown’s defense held the Vipers at bay as Allentown came away with the 2-0 victory. Allentown plays away at the German American Club Sunday at 4 p.m. in a contest with their cross-town rivals.

The Millstone Stingers U9 boys played their first away game this season against the Toms River Celtics. A physical, fast-paced game ensued between the visiting Stingers and the previously undefeated Celtics. The Toms River Celtics placed the first number on the boards with a fast driving breakaway up the side, ending in a low corner kick. Millstone stung back with midfielder Bryan Walkley crossing the ball to the middle, with power forwards Conor Murphy and Jack Giglia crashing the goal. After a series of short kicks from both forwards, midfielder Connor Bednarz stormed the middle for Millstone’s first goal. The Celtics were able to score again with experienced, offensive play from their forwards in the wings, to their midfielders outside of the box. The second goal for the Millstone Stingers came with a 25-yard direct kick taken by midfielder Bryan Walkley; he nailed an untouchable shot to the top left corner. With the game tied, both teams were looking to end the first half with their next goal. Midfielder Connor Bednarz lofted the winning goal with a shot launched outside of the 18, narrowly extending beyond an outstretched, backpedaling goalie. A newcomer to the Stingers offense this season, Zachary Reutsch, is proving to be a viable asset with his growing ability to transfer from both forward to midfielder.

The Millstone Stingers defense consisted of Jordan Herzog, Justin Paglia and Thomas Malik. Their impenetrable, moving wall kept the Toms River Celtics on the outside, only to deflect and sweep away any midfield dribbling and potential crossovers. Their collective speed, strength and airborne kicks kept the Celtics from gaining any offensive momentum during their relentless assault. Goalie Kevin Towle made numerous saves throughout the game, while keeping the Toms River Celtics with no goals in the second half. Crossbar leaps and transverse body dives kept a hard-hitting Toms River from gaining more than two goals. His long range punts kept the Celtics downfield on an active defense.

The Millstone Stingers will be back again next week in Toms River to play the Fury.