#image_title

Degree of Difficulty: Manalapan Survives First Leg of Boys Shore Conference Gauntlet

Matt Manley|October 17, 2026|Last Updated October 17, 2026

MANALAPAN — In seven of Manalapan’s eight wins prior to Friday’s Shore Conference Tournament match against Howell, senior goalkeeper Chase Lee did not have to make a high-pressure save. His team won each of those games by at least three goals — a dominant stretch that helped Manalapan lock up the No. 1 seed in the Shore Conference Tournament.

For their accomplishment, the Braves had to face a No. 17 seed with a 14 wins that just happened to be a traditional rival. With that challenge came pressure, a tight game and a chance to players like Lee to once again show that amid all the blowout wins, they still know how to come up clutch.

Junior Luke Ottenheimer supplied the lone goal and Lee made a critical save in each half and No. 1 seed Manalapan took down the Rebels, 1-0, Friday to advance to the Shore Conference Tournament quarterfinals.

“Any game in postseason is going to be a close game,” Lee said. “Any game in postseason is going to be a game like today, whatever the seeds are. We know we have to come to play every day if we want to get to the finals.”

After Friday’s win, Manalapan is 13-1-1 overall and its only loss was its only game against a team from outside the Shore Conference. The Braves are 13-0-1 vs. the Shore and in their last nine games against area teams, they have outscored their opponents, 40-1.

“It’s the full buy-in from the boys,” Manalapan coach Brandon Downey said. “They come into every game expecting that not everything is going to go their way and they might not get every call and not every bounce is going to fall to their feet, because that’s what life is about. It’s just trying to instill that in them every single practice and as fun as they say our practices are, they are all with intent.”

Friday marked the second time Manalapan had to hold on for a 1-0 lead during their dominant, nine-game run vs. the Shore Conference and the Braves defense and Lee were up to the task. The Braves outshot Howell, 8-4, and Lee saved all four Rebels shots, including a standout save to end each half.

In the final minutes of the first half, Lee made a leaping save, parrying a 22-yard shot by junior Milli Martinez over the bar to preserve the 0-0 tie. With Manalapan clinging to a 1-0 lead in the 70th minute, Lee stopped a point-blank shot by junior Juan Maria, then fell on the loose ball in the box to turn away Howell’s greatest threat of the match.

 

“My six-yard box is my home,” said Lee, now in his third year as Manalapan’s starting goalkeeper. “I know I have to dominate it and when I saw (the ball) come over top and get to the box, I knew I had to do anything necessary to get it in my hands.”

Without Ottenheimer, there would have been no lead for Lee to protect for most of the second half. In the 13th minute of the second half, senior Gavin Halcomb took a pass from classmate Ryan Seybuck in the middle of the field and spotting Ottenheimer making a run toward the box, fed him the ball. The junior skipped a shot from the left side of the box into the far-right corner of the goal for the first and only score of the game.

“It was a team goal,” Ottenheimer said. “Our practices are fun. “We build all our chemistry there and we have a lot of chemistry out on the field.

“It started with Ryan, then to Gavin and Gavin to me and I just put it in the net. Right when I kicked it, I knew it was going in.”

 

The loss was only the third of the season for Howell and all three have been in games that were part of the Shore Conference Tournament. The Rebels lost two games during the group stage, which landed them behind Shore Regional and St. John Vianney for third place in the standings. That put Howell’s seeding ceiling at No. 17, meaning they had to play No. 1 Manalapan after beating No. 16 Long Branch in Wednesday’s opening round.

Manalapan and Howell have locked up for many memorable battles during Howell coach Rich Yuro’s three decades as head coach, including a first-round SCT clash two seasons ago when both teams were ranked in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10. Howell’s only SCT championship ended with a victory over Manalapan in the tournament final in 2006.

Downey knows all about the rivalry having graduated from Howell and played for Yuro during his high-school days.

“The boys are lucky that I played four years for Yuro, but coaches are always changing philosophies so I gave them the best insight that I could,” Downey said. “The best thing a coach can do is give them the tools for them to succeed and they figured out a way to do it today. It was never going to be easy because Howell is not an easy team to beat. Maybe a couple of the years I was there, but it’s just been such a program through-and-through, from top-to-bottom.”

Now in his second season as Manalapan’s head coach, Downey has the Braves rolling into Monday’s quarterfinal against ninth-seeded Christian Brothers Academy — another opponent that is under-seeded due to the World Cup format of the SCT. CBA is the No. 2 team in the SSI Top 10 behind only Manalapan, but because the Colts lost to Manasquan in group play, they could not be seeded better than No. 9. That means Monday’s quarterfinal will feature the top two teams in the SSI Top 10.

“It’s going to be amazing waking up for an 8 a.m. practice (on Saturday),” Downey said. “It’s going to be cold and it’s going to be fun. I can’t wait to hit that alarm at 6:30 to be out there with the boys getting ready for another tournament game.”

“Every game in the tournament is a challenge,” Lee said. “That’s why we’re here. We love a challenge and we’re always ready to play.”

Related Articles