Soccer players in white and red jerseys chase the ball on a turf field during a match, with a blurred background of spectators and a building behind them.

Golden Boot: Colts Neck’s Sean Moore Breaks Shore Conference Goals Record With OT Winner

Matt Manley|October 2, 2026|Last Updated October 2, 2026

STAFFORD TWP. — When the 2026 season started, Colts Neck boys soccer coach Art Collier was convinced his star player was not going to get wrapped up in the pursuit of his own personal history.

Not only did Sean Moore get sucked into the chase for a hallowed boys soccer scoring record; everybody on his team plus Colts Neck’s opponents got wrapped up in it too.

Closing in on the all-time Shore Conference boys soccer goal-scoring record(opens in new tab), Sean Moore faced routine double-and-triple teams and the pressure to put the record-breaking goal mounted over the 72 hours leading up to Friday’s overtime battle at Southern Regional, during which Moore went scoreless for 80-plus minutes.

Then, with the game on the line, Moore finally authored his history-making moment.

With a golden-goal penalty kick in the 86th minute Friday, Moore broke the Shore Conference all-time goal-scoring record with his 95th career goal and delivered Colts Neck a 2-1 win over the Rams that lifted a weight off the broad shoulders of the reigning Shore Sports Insider Player of the Year.

The 95 goals eclipse the previous record of 94, held by 2016 Shore Regional graduate J.T. Kessler.

“It’s a crazy feeling,” Moore said. “I never thought coming into my freshman year of soccer in high school that I was going to break the Shore Conference record. Doing that is crazy, knowing how many kids have been playing in the conference and trying to break that record for the last 10 years. It’s just crazy to think about.”

 

After recording a hat trick in a 6-0 win vs. Asbury Park on Monday to tie the record, Moore went scoreless in a 2-0 Colts Neck loss at CBA on Wednesday and endured a similar struggle for most of Friday’s road tilt at Southern.

“I never really understood listening to athletes who talk about that moment they reach an individual milestone and the pressure that comes with it,” Collier said. “As a coach, I usually just think, ‘Don’t worry about it and just play the game.’ I understood there was pressure, but what we realized is every single team in succession did not want to be the one that gave up the goal on their turf. It raised the level of every team we played against and it raised the pressure on Sean while also changing the way we play because we’re trying to force passes into Sean. Our guys were thinking about it too.

“No matter how much we wanted to just stay the course and let it happen, it’s just human nature. You can’t help but think about something like (the record).”

Moore had four quality chances in the game prior to his record-setting penalty kick, including a pair of free kicks — one that hit the crossbar and the other saved by Hunt. In the first half, he beat a group of three defenders along the end-line in the but mishit a close-range shot that Hunt directed away from the goal. Near the midway point of the second, he worked a give-and-go and unleashed an uncontested shot that sailed wide of the near-left post.

That struggle finally ended just past the midway point of the first overtime period. Moore took a pass from sophomore Cristian Sclafani and beat a defender before Southern sophomore goalkeeper Riley Hunt pulled him down as he drove toward the game-winning goal. With the game and Shore Conference record in front of him, Moore drilled a low strike to the left side of the goal for the 15th goal of his senior season and the 95th goal of his varsity career.

“There was definitely a lot of pressure,” Moore said. “I definitely wanted to get the job done by winning, but had that goal in the back of my head this whole game. Being able to get it this game, now I can just play my game going forward.”

Moore has taken his share of penalty kicks, even some that have come with a level of pressure that rivaled Friday’s overtime penalty. Colts Neck reached the Shore Conference Tournament final last season and lost on penalty kicks to Middletown South, with Moore making one of two attempts during the championship-deciding shootout.

“I have been in that situation before, especially with the Shore Conference finals,” Moore said. “It was still an unreal feeling knowing if I scored that, I would beat the Shore Conference record.”

With the game in overtime, Friday’s pressure-packed penalty kick had team ramifications, but Moore’s final shot was as much about clearing a milestone for himself and his team as the calendar advances toward the Shore Conference Tournament.

“What really raised the level of anxiety was the attention opponents were giving him,” Collier said. “And he is a competitive kid, so the more teams are triple-teaming him, the more determined he is to score.”

Colts Neck grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute on a pinpoint shot by junior Braedon Reilly off a pass from Sclafani. Reilly first-timed a left-footed strike that he tucked into the upper 90 from 25 yards out.

 

Southern equalized in the 42nd minute one a long ball into the box by junior George Katsianis that cleared Colts Neck freshman goalkeeper Jonas Camera and bounced into the goal before Reilly could clear it off the line.

Moore now turns his attention to the Shore Conference’s all-time scoring record of 232 points, held by Manchester graduate Mark Wilson. After his game-winning goal on Friday, Moore stands at 230 points on 95 goals and 40 career assists. Colts Neck’s next game is Tuesday at Toms River North in Shore Conference Tournament group play, with the winner claiming first place in SCT Group 4. With five more goals, he can also become the first boys soccer player at the Shore to reach 100 goals.

“It took on a life of its own,” Collier said of Moore’s chase for the record. “I’m hoping it’s over with and I know Sean will be the first one to say it: he is ready to get back to doing whatever needs to be done to win games.”

“I knew this day was going to come,” Moore said. “We usually play 25 games or so in a season and I have been scoring 20 goals every year, so I knew I was going to get there if I just kept playing my game. It’s been a challenge with teams trying to load up and stop me, but we’re playing well as a team, so I knew the day would come and today was the day.”

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