Scoring Machine: Colts Neck Soccer Star Sean Moore Closes in on Shore Conference History

Following the most bitter defeat of his soccer career, Sean Moore had a decision to make.

In the midst of a historic varsity career at Colts Neck High School and while still searching for a college home when his high-school career ends, Moore had to decide if he would return for his fourth varsity season at Colts Neck or devote his time and energy to academy circuit, where the recruiting process is considered to be more streamlined and the commitment is absolute.

One path offered Moore the most direct route to his future soccer home, while the other offered something less tangible: a chance at history and redemption.

On Monday at Five Points Park, across the street from his high school, Moore moved within one goal of history when he recorded a hat trick in a 6-0 Colts Neck win over Asbury Park High School, which pulled him into a tie for the all-time goal-scoring mark in Shore Conference history.

Moore scored his 92nd, 93rd and 94th goals of his four-year varsity career on Monday, which ties the current record held by 2016 Shore Regional graduate J.T. Kessler. With a month-and-change still left this season, Moore is on pace to shatter Kessler’s mark, break the Shore’s all-time scoring record of 232 points and become the first Shore Conference player to score 100 goals.

With his three goals and one assist on Monday, Moore currently stands at 14 goals and 10 assists on the season, giving him 94 and 39 for his career. The 227 career points (two points per goal and one per assist) are just five behind the current record, set in 1985 by Manchester graduate Mark Wilson.

“That’s part of the reason why I came back to play high school, because I do want to break the all-time Shore Conference goals record,” Moore said. “It’s a chance to make history. It’s a pretty crazy thing to be able to do.

“Coming into high school, I did not think I was going to get a hundred goals. But with 80 (coming into the season), I really started to think about it and what it would mean. Now, I just have to finish the job.”

Moore’s finishes on his record-tying day came in three different varieties – a fitting display of the many ways he has burned defenses over his three-plus seasons with the Cougars. He scored the lone first-half goal on a penalty kick after drawing a foul while positioning himself for a free kick into the box. His second goal was a diving header on a cross from junior teammate Braedon Reilly to make the score 5-0 in the 67th minute.

He then capped his hat trick and the game with a far-post blast from eight yards out after gathering a through-ball from senior teammate and good friend, Pedro Navroski. The goal automatically ended the game in the 76th minute with Colts Neck leading by six goals. The match was part of the Shore Conference Tournament group stage and the win officially clinched Colts Neck a spot in the actual SCT.

 

Sean Moore finishes off a hat trick and ties the all-time Shore Conference record with 94 career goals. Colts Neck beats Asbury Park 6-0 in Shore Conference Tournament group play and will play at CBA Wednesday, with Moore trying to break the record. pic.twitter.com/WD6PCzsI5l

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) September 28, 2026

Monday’s win also improved Colts Neck’s record to 6-3 and in his team’s 10th game of the season and final game of September, Moore could make Shore Conference history with his record 95th goal. That 10th game will be Wednesday at Christian Brothers Academy – the No. 2 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 and, with its 13 Shore Conference Tournament championships, the most decorated boys soccer program in the Shore Conference over the last half-century.

CBA and Moore have a recent history vs. one another that is connected to the other reason Moore returned to play for his high school team this season. As a sophomore, Moore and his older brother, Kyle, each scored in the Shore Conference Tournament championship game, leading Colts Neck to a 3-2 win that captured the Cougars their first ever conference tournament championship.

The following year, CBA was one of only three teams to keep Moore from scoring in a game as a junior, with the Colts beating the Cougars, 3-2, in a regular-season, Shore Conference Class A North division game. Another of those teams was Middletown South, which did it in the Shore Conference Tournament championship game as well as the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III final. Colts Neck lost both games – the first on penalty kicks after a 0-0 draw and the second in a 4-0 rout to end the season on the same field on which he broke the record on Monday afternoon.

The 30 goals scored and the Shore Sports Insider Player of the Year award he won might have led Moore’s resume in 2025, but he spent the offseason thinking about those two regrettable outcomes and how he could atone for them. Ultimately, he decided it had to be wearing the Colts Neck uniform.

One Moore Ride

After taking some time to consider his future, Moore informed Colts Neck coach Art Collier earlier this summer that he was on board for one more run with the Cougars and would head into his senior year with a chance to become the Shore Conference’s all-time leading scorer, as well as its first ever 100-goal scorer. When asked for his motivation in returning to his high school team, those milestones did not lead his response.

Colts Neck has not won a sectional championship since winning the overall Group I championship in 2000 and before he graduates in the spring of 2027, Moore would like to end that quarter-century drought.

“This is a big year for us,” Moore said. “We lost two championships last year and this year is all we’ve got, especially for me being a senior.”

In a bygone era, a soccer player with Sean Moore’s résumé would have been committed to play for a Division I program before the first day of his senior year. Now, players like Moore are forced to fight for few open spots occupied by true college freshmen, which often means skipping out on high school soccer in favor of an academy scene that is more convenient for recruiting.

Soccer academies affiliated with Major League Soccer’s MLS Next program currently prohibit their players from participating in high school soccer as the two seasons run simultaneously, according to rule VII-b. of the 2026-27 MLS Next Rules and Regulations(opens in new tab).

The rule has been in effect in some form for a decade-and-a-half and forced players all around the country to make choice between playing for these exclusive clubs that are geared toward college recruiting and participating in the high-school soccer experience with friends from school.

“I’m not the type of guy that tries to pressure kids into doing one thing or the other,” Collier said. “What I try to do is make our program an attractive one for a kid to play in. They enjoy playing, they like it. I want them to choose it because that’s what they want. I think Sean has had an awful lot of fun playing high school soccer for the last three years.”

While the academy-vs.-high-school rift has existed for more than a decade, the college experience that players are chasing has changed dramatically due to the ever-changing NCAA eligibility and transfer rules, as well as the emergence of Name Image and Likeness (NIL) rights and opportunities.

“I think Sean’s mom and dad and Sean realize that the next level they are being sold on isn’t always a pot of gold,” Collier said. “What kids are starting to realize, and I encourage any parent to take a look at the rosters of the local Division I and Division II teams: There are no Jersey Shore kids on them. There aren’t even many Americans on them. There are some here and there, but only the best of the best. Rosters are full of 25-year-olds from overseas.

“If you are a college coach trying to win, are you going to select an 18-year-old kid who needs a lot of work, or are you going to take a refined kid from Liverpool who just didn’t cut it in the pros? Or Spain, or wherever else they are developing high-level players. American kids are now competing with that and kids are starting to realize it.”

Like any plan to enhance the chances of landing a scholarship, playing for a soccer academy is not guaranteed to yield results for every player and for one as accomplished as Moore, it might not be necessary. Moore is not signed to play, but remains in contact with St. John’s University, Monmouth University and American University as he continues to chart the course for his college years.

“It was a big decision because of college,” Moore said. “I want to go far with that and I know some (college) coaches are iffy about high school soccer. I think high school is valuable. You’re playing with your friends, it’s after school. High school has a lot of hype and a lot of intensity with people around the Shore. In high school, you score a goal, you run to the corner flag and everyone is cheering. Your teammates are running over to celebrate with you. In club, when you score a goal, it’s kind of like, ‘whatever.’ You don’t feel that same bond.”

In the meantime, his focus is on finishing his high school career a champion and while he has experienced a championship season with Colts Neck as a sophomore, his senior year with the Cougars presents its own set of challenges.

Moore is one of only three seniors in Colts Neck’s starting XI and sophomore Leo Shatku is the only other player in addition to those three who has started for the Cougars alongside Moore, which Shatku did as a freshman outside fullback. The Cougars start a freshman at center fullback (Kayden Oliveira) at goalkeeper (Jonas Camera), plus four sophomores around the formation.

“I was scoring 20 goals every season, so I knew I could get the record, but I also knew coming into the season, it was going to be tough to score because our whole team is young,” Moore said. “There are only three seniors (starting). I was worried about not getting the ball as much, but it’s been completely the opposite. I have been getting the ball and creating chances. Coming in, I definitely thought I was going to get (the record), but I still had to come out every day and do the job.”

Colts Neck’s inexperience has revealed itself in losses to Manalapan, Marlboro and Pingry, during which the Cougars have been outscored by a combined total of 11-2. Whether playing a top team in the state, a top team at the Shore or a run-of-the-mill opponent, Moore is routinely facing double and triple teams throughout the game and the better the opponent, the harder those defenses have been to crack. Moore scored one of his 14 goals in the three Colts Neck losses.

“I’m used to the double and triple teams,” Moore said. “That doesn’t really matter to me. Teams can do whatever they want. We have other guys and I usually find a way to get past it.”

The Collier Connection

One area in which Colts Neck is not lacking experience is on the sideline. Collier is the only coach Colts Neck’s varsity boys soccer team has ever known, with Collier starting the program upon the school’s opening in 1998. Collier led Colts Neck to a Group I championship in 2000, then guided the Cougars to the Shore Conference Tournament final the following year.

Colts Neck boasted division champions at different points over the ensuing two decades and in 2024, Collier’s club finally reclaimed a tournament championship when the Cougars won the 2024 Shore Conference Tournament title.

Moore has not only played for Collier over the previous three years, but also witnessed his older brother, Kyle, thrive with Collier. Kyle Moore graduated as Colts Neck’s all-time leading scorer and a First-Team All-Shore forward in 2024, a record he held for less than a year before Sean broke his mark.

“The main thing was to play for Coach Collier,” Moore said of his decision to play his senior year for Colts Neck. “I’ve been with him for three years and I love that dude. I just wanted to play with him for one more year and hopefully get a Shore Conference and state championship for him.”

That family connection to the program and the bond Moore has formed with Collier was another major factor in not only Moore’s return, but also Collier’s. The veteran coach has pondered retirement in recent years, but decided to return to coach Moore for one more year. The experience has been enjoyable enough that Collier now thinks 2026 might not be his last as Colts Neck’s coach.

“I’m glad that he chose to come back and I told him, ‘Let’s come back one more year together,’” Collier said. “I might outlast him. I might not. I might stick around because I still enjoy it. We’re glad he’s back.”

Collier might not have recruited Moore to come back to the team, but Moore did plenty of recruiting of his own to make sure his senior year would go as planned. Navroski and Moore are travel teammates and played together on the 2024 team before Navroski left the program in 2025 to play with MLS Next. With one more year left for both, Moore convinced his friend to take another run at a championship with him and Navroski’s impact has been substantial. Through nine games, he is the team’s second-leading scorer with seven goals and five assists.

“I think Sean enjoyed the idea of being a captain,” Collier said. “I think Pedro coming back from MLS Next also helped Sean’s decision because they are buddies and enjoy playing together. The record is certainly motivation for him too.”

 

The Road to the Record

The pressure to break the scoring record as soon as possible has not impacted Moore’s willingness to look for open teammates, and not just Navroski. In last Thursday’s 3-0 win over Holmdel, Moore assisted all three goals, including the first career goal for sophomore Kyle Candido, followed by two from Navroski.

In Monday’s win vs. Asbury Park, Moore beat the defense to the end-line and crossed the ball on the ground to the back post, where sophomore Luca Monteforte settled it and struck it in for his third goal of the season. Earlier in the game, Moore let a near-post ball from Navroski roll into the net for a Colts Neck’s second goal. The third was a top-of-the-18 blast by sophomore Kyle Candido.

Before Moore scored his second goal on the diving header, four different Cougars players had gotten involved in the scoring action.

In working with his less experienced teammates, Moore has helped build their confidence, but he is not hurting for goals. Monday marked his third hat trick and fifth multi-goal game of the season, one of which was a two-goal game with three assists in a 7-1 win over Point Pleasant Boro.

The ability to work within the team framework has come easy to Moore because he has been scoring within the team framework since his first game as a freshman. The most impressive aspect of Moore’s record is he has accumulated his numbers while playing in competitive Shore Conference divisions: Class B North as a freshman, Class A Central as a sophomore and the top of the conference in Class A North each of his final two seasons.

“There are so many tremendous players from the Shore Conference who are not goal-scorers: Hunter Gorskie (Marlboro); Sean Davis and Dan Metzger at Holmdel; Rob Johnson (Jackson); the great Wall players; Tom Gray (Middletown South), Ryan Clark (Freehold Township),” Collier said. “These are great guys that didn’t necessarily score a ton of goals. So when you’re talking about best player vs. best goal-scorer, Sean has done something you can’t argue with.

“In the past, you might say: ‘He is padding his stats against weaker teams.’ He is not. He is playing in A North against some of the best teams in the Shore. Is the level different than when it was when the academy kids played? Probably. Still, nobody else is coming close to those numbers, so you can’t argue with those numbers. Goals scored are goals scored. You’ve got to speak of him in the same breath as those other great playerss. He is in that discussion, no doubt.”

While Colts Neck’s chances of winning a Class A North division championship have faded, the Cougars are 3-0 in Shore Conference Tournament group play and can earn a bye through the first round with a win or tie on Oct. 6 at Toms River North. If Moore cannot score at CBA on Wednesday or Friday at Southern Regional, the Toms River North game could turn out to be the setting for his history-making goal.

“Breaking the record would definitely take a lot of stress off my mind. Today, getting a hat trick definitely helps. I want to finish it off against CBA.

“Now, I can just play my game: do what I’m capable of doing and that’s score goals. I’m just going to go into the game looking to do what I do best.”

Regardless of when Moore breaks the two records in his cross-hairs, the moment is coming. Moore is on his way to cementing himself as an all-time great in Shore Conference soccer history with the numbers to prove it.

Moore has turned himself into a more complete player, a leader and, in a matter of likely hours or days, the Shore’s all-time leading scorer. Assuming good health, the record will be his. After that, all that’s left is the redemption part.