The Claw: Clauburg Shines in Goal, Wall Boys Soccer Beats Manasquan on Penalties

MANASQUAN — Sophomore Kellen Cullen spent the first two rounds of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II playoffs doing just enough in goal to keep his Wall boys soccer team in its playoff games, then watched as junior Shane Womack and the offense scored clutch goal after clutch goal to keep the Crimson Knights’ season alive.

Tuesday in the sectional semifinals at Manasquan, it was clear from the moment Clauburg took over for senior Harrison Novick at the start of the second half, Wall’s goalkeeper and its defense were going to have to win the game and keep an improbable state playoff run alive.

Clauburg delivered a dazzling performance in goal during the second half and overtime, then saved the final shot of the penalty shootout to clinch a 6-5 win for Wall on penalties after a scoreless tie — a result that sends the Crimson Knights to the sectional final round for the third time in seven years and first since 2022.

“These boys are seniors, and I’m a sophomore,” Clauburg said. “They’re trusting me with their season, and I have two more seasons. They still need me to keep their season going, and I don’t want to end their season.”

Here is the winning save by Kellen Clauburg, who came up big for Wall throughout the 2nd half. https://t.co/ipGR5Vfznb pic.twitter.com/9rsiUJqjnR

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) November 11, 2025

Since Oct. 2, Clauburg has split games in goal with Novick after Novick began the season as the No. 1 goalkeeper. Wall lost its last game of September, 2-1, to Middletown South and was mired in a three-game losing streak when Wall coach Garry Linstra decided to give his promising sophomore goalkeeper a look without removing his senior leader from the equation.

“We were out of the (Class A Central) division race, and we had been thinking about maybe giving (Clauburg) a shot just to get a look at him, and we thought that was a good opportunity to see what we had,” Linstra said. “Harry (Novick) was playing well, but we needed him to play a little better, so we didn’t want to make a full switch, so we figured we’d split the games. Kellen has done very well, but I also think Harry has stepped up as a senior leader helping Kellen and being that presence back there.”

The payoff was not immediate, although the goalkeepers were not the culprit for Wall’s results. The Crimson Knights snapped the three-game skid by handling Red Bank Catholic, then lost four straight while scoring just one goal combined in the four matches.

The struggles stemmed, in part, from injuries to three starters (senior Brendan Grober, senior Lucca Rulli and sophomore Chris Knight) and up until the start of the NJSIAA Tournament, Wall could not figure out how to overcome those injuries.

“We had some injuries throughout the season,” senior center back Paul Fury said. “We didn’t have the record we wanted or the season we wanted and we didn’t want to have our season ended without playing our best.”

Then, Wall — seeded No. 11 in the Central Group II bracket — found its scoring touch. The Crimson Knights outscored Ocean, 5-4, in a back-and-forth, opening-round win on the road, then took down Point Pleasant Boro, 3-2, with another late goal. Womack scored the game-winner in both wins, finishing the deciding goal in the 78th minute at Ocean and delivering the tie-breaking goal in the 79th at Point Boro.

“I thought we were going to score,” Clauburg said. “I’m surprised it was zero-zero full time. We had a bunch of chances, but I was the one who had to step up today.”

“I think the weather definitely impacted (the goal-scoring),” Fury said. “With forty mile-per-hour wind gusts and freezing cold, it’s hard to put a lot together, but our defense stepped up.

On Tuesday, with winds gusting up to 40 miles-per-hour and a wind-chill temperature below 20 degrees, the game started as a defensive struggle and remained that way for 100 minutes, although the pressure on the goal increased once Clauburg took over for Novick at the start of the second half. Novick needed just one save to get Wall to halftime tied with Manasquan, 0-0, although Manasquan did own a 6-0 advantage in shots.

“We tell them all the time: Offense wins games, defense wins championships,” Linstra said. “We were getting shots, but we had to be better in the box defensively. That’s why we were giving up the goals we gave up in the first two rounds and I think they got the message today, because we did a much better job in the box today — our defenders, our midfielders who checked back and obviously Kellen and Harry.”

The second half started with Wall uncorking its first two shots within the first four minutes, but Manasquan gradually moved the attack back to the other side of the field, where Clauburg now occupied the Wall goal. Manasquan piled up 14 shots before the end of regulation, challenging Clauburg to make five saves. The closest call for Manasquan was a point-blank shot by Noah Matuch that Clauburg smothered just as it came off the foot of Matuch in the 62nd minute.

“I had my whole entire arm extended and I just leapt straight at the ball,” Clauburg said.

By the end of overtime, Clauberg saved six shots to help Wall stem an 18-3 Manasquan advantage in shots and a 7-0 edge in shots on goal.

“I just had to be prepared,” Clauburg said. “It’s just a mindset. You just always have to be prepared for whatever happens. If we scored, they could come right back and you have to be ready for that.”

Despite not putting a shot on frame in 100 minutes, Wall had a chance to return to the sectional final for the second time in four seasons and third time in seven seasons. The penalty shootout did not start in Wall’s favor, with Manasquan junior goalkeeper Quinn Petrulla saving a shot by Wall senior defender Paul Fury on the first attempt of the penalty round.

Manasquan then converted its first three shots of the shootout, but missed the fourth, which left the score even, 3-3, with Wall now on a run of made kicks. Seniors Christian Garduza, Tanner Griffin and Evan Ker and junior Nick Herrera each made their attempts to push Wall ahead, 4-3, heading into Manasquan’s fourth shot, which sophomore Travis Levy converted to send the penalty shootout into sudden death.

“I had to look away when our guys were shooting,” Clauburg said. “I had those kids chirping at me in the corner, so I just had to focus and mentally prepare for what I had to do.”

Fury returned to the spot and nailed his second attempt at a penalty kick, which Manasquan answered with senior Cruz Farkas’s second made penalty of the shootout. Garduza then buried his second attempt of the penalty round to set up the final shot of the game.

“I was definitely hoping to get another shot because didn’t want to go out like,” Fury said. “I just knew if it came back to me, I was going to step up and hit it.”

Clauburg had not stopped a shot during the shootout, but on Manasquan’s seventh shot, the sophomore made a diving stop to his left to officially send Wall to the sectional championship Friday at fourth-seeded Robbinsville.

“I just had to clear my mind,” Clauburg said. “I had to relax, take everything in. I tried to see where they were going, but they didn’t give many hints. On the last one, I just had to make a decision.”

Wall’s last trip to a sectional final was as a No. 8 seed in 2022, when the Crimson Knights won on the road at both No. 1 Bordentown and No. 5 South River before losing to No. 2 Holmdel, 1-0, in the sectional championship game. In 2019, Wall won the Central Jersey Group III championship as the No. 1 seed in the section and lost the Group III championship game on penalty kicks.

“It’s incredible,” Linstra said of his team’s run. “With the injuries and everything you go through in a season, this is a special group and they are on a special run. A few years ago, we had that team that was able to go on the road and get to a sectional final against one of those really talented Holmdel teams and I have been telling these guys that those runs can happen. We felt like there was a chance for us to go on a run here if we trusted each other and stayed in the moment and these guys have done a great job.”