One for the Record Books: Matuch Goal, Lockdown Defense Deliver Manasquan Boys Soccer First Shore Title

NEPTUNE — Zack Savacool and his Manasquan boys soccer players have looked around the gym and Manasquan High School and noticed banners lining the walls that represent every sport in Manasquan’s rich history, most of them jammed with numbers commemorating various championships.

Then there is the boys soccer banner. At Manasquan, four years commemorating division titles constitutes a barren canvas — one that Savacool and his players set out to paint over with the biggest victory in program history on Saturday night.

Facing the team that has won more Shore Conference Tournament championships than any other program, Manasquan made school history Saturday at Memorial Field in Neptune by shutting out Christian Brothers Academy, 1-0, to win its first-ever Shore Conference championship in boys soccer. Prior to Saturday, Manasquan Boys Soccer had never won a tournament championship of any kind.

“It’s absolutely huge,” said Savacool, sporting a baseball cap with lettering that read “SQUAN FC” on the front. “We have been talking about making history for the last two weeks. You go in the gym, and you look around at all the years of all the other sports and how much everyone else has one. Then you look at soccer’s banner, and it’s like four division championships, and that’s it.”

Junior Noah Matuch provided the winning goal in the 30th minute by running through two attempted tackles and forcing a shot past CBA senior goalkeeper Brody Lepore. For the remainder of the game, Manasquan disrupted CBA’s attack and fought for every 50-50 ball until the final whistle signaled the end of the game and the start of a raucous on-field celebration.

 

Final: Manasquan 1, CBA 0

For the first time ever, Manasquan is the Shore Conference Tournament champion in boys soccer. And most of Manasquan is on the field to celebrate. https://t.co/s4Kqhb9jR7

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) October 25, 2026

The shutout was the eighth of the season for the Warriors and senior goalkeeper Quinn Petrulla, who came through in two penalty shootouts on the road to the championship game. On Saturday, Petrulla needed just three saves to secure the clean sheet thanks to the defensive quartet of juniors Travis Levy and Renzo Lucarelli in the middle and seniors John Visceglia and Alex Lapitzki on the outside of the back four.

“That’s our strength: keeping the ball out of the back of the net,” said Savacool, who graduated from Wall High School in 2011 after playing for Crimson Knights teams that routinely shut teams out and allowed 12 goals in 20 games during his senior season. “We knew with the players that we have that if we were able to do that, we would certainly have a chance in this game.

“Height is huge for aerial balls, but a guy like Renzo, he is not the tallest guy, but his balance, his judging of balls in the air, things like that allow us to win the ball in the air so it doesn’t get in behind. We talked about it: if they want to score against us, they have to earn it, meaning the outside backs stay tight to the center backs so there are no through-balls played in behind that cut you out of the game. The four defenders and Quinn are excellent one-v-one defenders,-one defenders, super physical, and we have them to thank for getting here.”

 

Within the first 10 minutes of the match, CBA senior Matt Papagni hit the left post with a back-heel, one-touch shot. After dodging that near goal, Manasquan did not let CBA test Petrulla in the net outside of a desperation free kick as time expired in the first half and a pair of back-to-back corner kicks early in the second half — the second of which Petrulla punched away to quell the threat.

Manasquan methodically gained control of the play, and in the 30th minute, the momentum shift led to the championship-winning sequence. Senior midfielder Myles Carstens popped a pass toward the CBA defensive third of the field and senior forward Luke Byrne headed it down in the direction of Matuch. With two defenders bracketing him, Matuch shook off the first one, then ran through the slide tackle of the second to earn himself a shot from the right side of the 18-yard box.

Matuch powered a shot through a deflection by Lepore, and the ball rolled toward the goal line. CBA senior defender Chase Kowalczyk attempted to clear the ball away, but could not get there in time.

 

Noah Matuch goes into bulldozer mode and gives Manasquan a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute. https://t.co/dPmI8lF3VO

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) October 24, 2026

“I thought there was going to be another guy behind me, so I had to shoot it really quickly,” Matuch said. “The goalie came out and I just kind of placed it perfectly. Getting that first goal gave us all the momentum. It gave us a chance to sit back, relax, and we could take our time while they were in a rush.”

“Noah is probably one of, if not the most physical strikers in the Shore,” Savacool said. “There’s not many center backs that can hang with him. I thought that if we stayed solid in the back, if we could get the ball up to him, he is going to turn fifty-fifty balls into seventy-thirties in our favor. He was able to get us up the field, and then we got plenty of players with fantastic one-on-one ability, a couple guys in the middle of the field who can really play. In addition to the goal he scored, he really helped us with our transition game, helping us adjust to the way the game was played. That was a key today.”

After sailing into the half with the lead, Manasquan defended its goal on consecutive corner kicks by CBA, then controlled the remainder of the first 20 minutes of the first half. From the 64th minute through the 74th, CBA made its push while Manasquan was booked for three yellow cards during a wave of fouls attempting to defend CBA’s attack.

Over the final six minutes, the Warriors once again dug in and denied the last-ditch effort by CBA.

“We all know the offense gets all the credit, but we don’t care about that,” Visceglia said. “We are just happy to see the zero on the board. We all know the work that goes into it: the head balls, the clearances. We’re happy we have guys who can put it in the net, and once it’s 1-0, we got it.

“From halftime to the end, we knew the game was on our back. We played it as if every second mattered. We all play for each other. I want to shout out Renzo Lucarelli. You don’t know how many times he has covered my rear end. That’s a good teammate right there. We’ve got each other’s back, and that’s what makes us such a special team.”

Although Saturday marked Manasquan’s first-ever tournament championship in boys soccer, the Warriors have had close calls and standout players over the last decade. The 2019 Warriors were the first time in the program’s history to reach the SCT championship game, which they lost on penalty kicks to Freehold Township. Manasquan also lost in the sectional final round of the NJSIAA Group II Tournament in both 2018 and 2023.

“It’s an ecstatic feeling not just for us but for the 2019 boys,” Visceglia said. “We’re happy to do it for them and for all those seniors who came through the program before us.”

Last year, the Warriors rode All-Shore First-Team striker Cruz Farkas to a 13-8 record in Savacool’s first season as head coach and an appearance in the Central Jersey Group II semifinal, which they lost to Wall on penalty kicks. Last year’s Manasquan team was also eliminated from the Shore Conference Tournament on penalty kicks in a round-of-16 loss to Manalapan.

“Seeing those two shutouts last year hurt,” Matuch said. “We had a great player, and we didn’t win anything: no state championships, no Shore titles, and (Farkas) was a fantastic player. This one is also for him.”

During the SCT run, penalty kicks became Manasquan’s salvation. The Warriors beat both Freehold Township and Toms River East on penalties in consecutive rounds to earn a trip to the title game vs. CBA.

After surviving the two shootout wins, Manasquan faced a CBA team motivated to avenge a loss in Manasquan on Oct. 6 that gave the Warriors a first-round bye in the knockout round of the tournament by virtue of finishing first place in SCT Group 1, while CBA dropped to second place in the group. With a wider field in the rematch, CBA hoped it could play its possession game more easily, but Manasquan didn’t let CBA get comfortable in Neptune either.

“I know they think that it was our field that was the reason they lost, but clearly that wasn’t the case,” Matuch said. “They are a very good team, but it doesn’t matter what field we play on. We are still going to play our game, and our game works on any field.”

From the start of the season, Manasquan embraced its identity as a lockdown defensive team, with a rallying cry of “consistent domination” peddled by Visceglia and his fellow seniors. Without a crafty, technical scoring standout like Farkas, Manasquan has leaned on the tandem of Byrne and Matuch to carry the offense. Byrne is cut from a similar cloth as Farkas as the finesse option of the duo, while Matuch is an overpowering presence at the top of the formation with his speed, strength, and size at a sturdy 6-foot-2.

“Our physicality sets the tone,” Savacool said. “Everyone loves to see a good challenge. It hypes up everyone in the stands, everyone on the bench, and everyone on the field. There is nothing like it, and I think we have several players on the field who are great at winning one-vs.-ones and are great at winning duels. When you see someone busting their ass to put a challenge in, it fires up the whole team and really raises the level for us.”

“We knew this was how it was going to happen,” Matuch said. “Obviously, Cruz was a huge piece. He scored 21 goals last year, but we knew we had great attackers and great defenders here. We’re still good enough to win championships, and it doesn’t matter who we have or don’t have. We’re going to find a way to win.”

Both Byrne and Visceglia were regular contributors on last year’s Manasquan boys basketball team, the school’s most successful boys sports program over the last decade, with three Shore Conference championships, six straight NJSIAA sectional championships from 2019 to 2025, and overall Group II titles in 2023 and 2025. Saturday’s win does not put the boys soccer program on that level, but it does put “Squan High School FC” in the club of champions at Manasquan as a first step toward building a winning tradition of its own.

“This is huge for us,” Savacool said. “This is huge for the future of the program. This is what it takes to get it done, and there were a bunch of young guys who were here today to see it: running balls for us, in the stands. They were here to see it, and now they know what it takes to do this, so hopefully we’ll be able to get back here again sometime soon.”