Toms River East Boys Soccer Edges Lacey for 6-0 Start to 2025

LACEY TWP. — With 42 goals to replace from the 2024 roster, the Toms River East boys soccer team was ready to get comfortable playing close, low-scoring games in 2025.

As it turned out, the Raiders had to wait until game No. 6 to encounter any trouble scoring goals. When tested by a Lacey team dealing with a rash of injuries among its defensive unit, Toms River East — the No. 7 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 — navigated a committed Lacey defensive shape to pull out one of those nail-biters it had been mentally preparing for leading into the season.

After 72 scoreless minutes, senior Aiden Reis provided the lone goal in Toms River East’s 1-0 win over Lacey that extended the Raiders’ season-opening winning streak to six.

“We haven’t really talked about our record,” Toms River East coach Mike Konopka said. “We just want to keep rolling. We have our goals that our seniors came up with for the team, and at the top of that list is to win (Class) A South (division). We don’t really look at the record, but we were looking at this as another A South game that was also important for power points and seeding in the state tournament.”

During its five-game winning streak heading into Thursday’s game, Toms River East scored at least three goals in every game. Since beating East Brunswick 4-3 in overtime in their season opener, the Raiders had won each of their next four games by at least a two-goal margin.

On Thursday, facing an opponent that compensated for injuries to its defense and All-Shore junior goalkeeper Dylan Graham by assuming a more defensive form, Toms River East would have to figure out how to win without pouring on the goals. That was not a problem in 2024, when the Raiders were the best defensive team in the Shore Conference by goals allowed per game.

“Lacey was very prepared for us, so we had to make some adjustments at halftime,” Konopka said. “The goal came through one of those adjustments. It was just something that we haven’t had to do yet — adjusting on the fly. We have been pretty successful playing the way we want to play, so it took a while for us to see those things develop on the field, and credit to my guys for being hungry in the box.”

This season, returning senior goalkeeper Mike Moore — who split time with All-Shore goalie and 2025 graduate Bobby Calvo — had one shutout to his credit in the first five games while allowing one goal in three of the other five prior victories. On Thursday, he and Toms River East’s defense carried their weight by holding an explosive Lacey side scoreless. In its first six games, Lacey posted 20 goals and was shut out one other time, which came in a 2-0 loss to Toms River North.

Toms River East’s defensive gameplan centered around Lions senior striker Tanner Grozinski (23 goals, 18 assists in 2024), who got off two shots on goal along with three others that were threatening, but missed the target. Grozinski was coming off a hat trick in a 4-3, overtime win over Howell on Tuesday and has scored nine of Lacey’s 20 goals this season.

“That’s a team we knew was better than their record,” Konopka said of Lacey. “We knew it was going to be a one-goal game, and we were going to have to key on Tanner to try to keep him off the scoreboard. We prepped the last two days to deal with Tanner, and (Lacey coach) Steve (Torre) did a phenomenal job prepping for how we play and how we want to attack. Both teams had to adjust over the course of the game, and I think that threw the goal-scoring chances off a little bit.”

“It’s always nerve-racking going against a good player when it’s a zero-zero game,” Reis said. “It takes a lot of stress off of us knowing we have a good goalie back there to help us.”

With Toms River East’s defense — led by senior center backs Aiden Corapi and J.J. Reed — returning to its 2024 form, the Raiders just needed someone on the attack to cash in on an opportunity. Throughout the first 70-plus minutes, the Raiders tested Lacey sophomore goalkeeper Cole Wioland, but the majority of the seven saves Wioland made were on shots from the edge of the 18-yard box and beyond.

“We knew we were going to score at some point,” Reis said. “It was going to come. We just had to keep working, and we got what we wanted.”

In the 73rd minute, Toms River East found an infiltrator into the six-yard box. After running its attack up the flanks for most of the match, the Raiders started their scoring sequence in the middle of the field with a give-and-go between junior Samuel Los and sophomore Brady Gillen. Los lost control of the ball on a slide tackle, but Gillen collected the loose ball and swung it out to his right for junior Evan Cappetta, who played the ball in the air to the far left post.

Toms River East breaks through in the 73rd. Aiden Reis slams in a ball from Evan Cappetta for a 1-0 lead. pic.twitter.com/e0jVasigzF

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) September 18, 2025

With Wioland hung up on the near post, Reis spotted daylight and made a far-post run that ended with the senior slamming an uncontested shot from close range into the goal for the deciding score.

“I saw the ball move out wide and I saw the back post open, so I just made the run and it was there, so it was a good goal,” Reis said. “I think we probably could have created more opportunities than we did, but it just took one.”

Within a minute of Lacey conceding, Grozinski only slightly mishit a bicycle kick that went right to Moore in goal. Grozinski then shook loose for a clean look from the middle of the 18-yard box, but fired the shot over the crossbar.

“Every time he touches the ball, you hold your breath,” Konopka said of Grozinski. “He is one of those types of players. We start two sophomores (Jake Schimenek and Vincenzo Nasuta) on the outside of our back line and (senior) J.J. didn’t play a lot for us last year after he got hurt early in the season. Aiden Corapi has experience, but he played more up top last year. It’s a good group, but they are still figuring each other out, so this was a good test for them.”

Lacey continues to play without its dangerous senior outside back Noah Riley (four goals, three assists in 2024) due to injury and has been without Graham since he suffered a broken sternum in a win over Central on Sept. 12, according to Torre. During Thursday’s loss, Lacey also lost senior defensive center midfielder Christian Gilani in the first 10 minutes to a knee injury. That prompted a move of senior Aiden Schmitt from attacking center midfield to a more defensive position, which crowded Toms River East’s final third of the field while leaving the attack up to Grozinski.

While Lacey’s scoring has tilted heavily toward Grozinski, Toms River East’s attack has been spread out across eight players, including five with at least two goals. Reis leads the team with five goals to go with three assists during the 6-0 start.

“We switched to two up top this year to create more pressure with our offense,” Reis said. “We are just trying to create more chances, and it seems to be working so far.”

With a 3-0 record in Class A South play and two division games remaining, Toms River East has its second division title in four years and first outright Class A South title since 2011 in its sights.

“Everybody has stepped up into those gaps and filled them in pretty good,” Reis said. “I like what we’ve done so far.”