AND THEN THERE WAS ONE
Allentown beats Hightstown, last CVC team with perfect record
ALLENTOWN — Matthew Skinner and his Allentown High boys soccer teammates went a long way toward proving which squad is best in the Colonial Valley Conference yesterday.
Skinner, a sophomore midfielder, scored the first and last goals as the Redbirds handed Hightstown its first loss, 3-0.
That win, combined with Hopewell Valley’s 2-1 victory over Steinert, leaves 5-0 Allentown as the only unbeaten, untied team in the CVC. West WindsorPlainsboro South also has not lost, but does have a tie on its resume.
“It’s pretty good,” Skinner, a varsity newcomer who played on the Redbirds freshman team a year ago, said of his big day in one of his team’s biggest games.
Skinner and Allentown were sure not to get overly excited since they have a tough slate of games ahead, hosting Notre Dame Thursday, then visiting Patriot Division foe Hopewell Valley Saturday and WW-P South on Tuesday.
Whichever team had won would have downplayed the outcome since Hightstown has equally big upcoming road games at Nottingham Thursday and WW-P North Saturday before hosting Hopewell Tuesday.
“You’re not going to go undefeated in this league,” Rams head coach Tim Kalick said. “If we dwell on this, we’ll be in trouble.”
While the Redbirds tall defenders bottled up CVC leading scorer Mohamed Sesay, Allentown’s offense took advantage when the opportunities presented themselves.
“Steven (Hensley) just played a nice cross and I had the last touch on it,” Skinner said of his first goal, which put the home team in the lead eight minutes into the game.
“The last one, I just cleaned up a ball in the box and put it in,” Skinner said of his chip shot, off a pass from Kevin Primich, which got behind Hightstown goalkeeper Jake Reyes 37 seconds after intermission.
That goal proved to be a backbreaker. Even though the Rams had the ball for a good portion of the final 40 minutes, they could not get it behind secondhalf goalkeeper Cameron Maxwell, much the same way they could not break first-half goalie Josh Samuels.
“We came out flat and it hurt us most in the second half,” Kalick said. “We talked at halftime about how if we banged one in, it would be a whole different ballgame.”
Instead, the 2-0 lead Allentown built when senior midfielder Zach Caruso headed home a throw-in by Tom Merse with 11 minutes left in the half stood.
The Rams, who had to limit the time of junior forward Jason Aguilar because of an injury, had trouble finding connections for point man Sesay, who was continually bottled up by the Redbirds’ imposing backline, which was spearheaded by Ryan Darrell, Merse and Will Sjaastad with help from Cameron Mory and John Bardwil.
Hightstown, which was limited to six shots on the day, did not get its first of the second half until Connor Paul’s offering at the midway point. The visitors’ best chance came when Christian Campoverde sent a shot off the crossbar with 12:30 to play.
Allentown laid claim to “best in the CVC” honors behind Skinner’s offense and a defense which did not crack in posting its second consecutive shutout by denying the Rams a shot at win No. 8.