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Colts Neck Boys Soccer Denies Freehold Twp. Upset with Last-Minute Goals

Matt Manley|October 23, 2025|Last Updated October 23, 2025

NEPTUNE — Having just tied the game in dramatic fashion in the final minute of regulation, the Colts Neck boys soccer team had all the momentum on its side and on top of that, a man advantage on the field thanks to a yellow-red card to one of its opponent’s best players.

With an 11-on-10 advantage and a chance to clinch a spot in the Shore Conference Tournament championship for the second straight year, Colts Neck had any number of options as to how to attack Freehold Township in overtime.

When the overtime started, the Cougars chose the simplest formula: get the ball to Sean Moore, watch him beat three defenders and end the game.

The junior striker did exactly that. Moore weaved and powered his way through three Patriots defenders during a run that started five yards in front of midfield, drew sophomore goalkeeper Giuseppe Romano off his line, and slipped the game-winner into the far-right corner of the goal 52 seconds into overtime. Moore flung his shirt off his upper body and led the celebration of Colts Neck’s 2-1, come-from-behind, overtime win over Freehold Township that carried the Cougars’ SCT title defense back to the championship game Saturday back at Memorial Field at Neptune.

“I knew I wasn’t having my best game, but I knew, going into overtime, I could score a goal and once I saw the space, I took that space and just had to finish one-v.-three opportunity and win the game,” Moore said. “I just knew we were going to come back and finish off this win.”

Just minutes prior to the golden goal celebration, Colts Neck was staring elimination in the face, trailing an inspired Freehold Township side, 1-0, with the clocking ticking below two minutes left in regulation. As inspired as Freehold Township was, the Patriots were also short-handed: senior Gino Castaneda was issued his second yellow card for tripping a Colts Neck player with 7:10 left and sent off for the remainder of the game, while his team had to play down a man the rest of the way.

“Geno is a great player,” senior Gabe Kruglyansky said. “He is one of their best defenders. When we saw the red card come out, our coaches were naming him, letting us know he’s off. We put three up top and we even had (defenders) Dillon Younger and (Ryan) Spencer going up top. We just wanted it more.”

Despite the loss of a player, Freehold Township held a 1-0 lead thanks to a header by senior defender Bobby Lockard on a corner kick delivered to the front of the goal by Castaneda in the 60th minute. It was just the sixth goal allowed by Colts Neck in 15 games this season.

Colts Neck continued to apply pressure with its attack after conceding, but its formation was disjointed enough to allow Freehold Township — which did not get anywhere near the Colts Neck goal prior to scoring — two quality scoring chances in the next seven minutes while failing to put the pieces together to finish a goal.

“After they had ten men on the field, we had to take advantage of that and that’s what we did,” Moore said. “Having players like Ben Kazani, C.J. Collins, Gabe surrounding me makes me ten times better of a player.”

Colts Neck junior Sean Moore. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com) - CN Sean Moore 2-2

Colts Neck junior Sean Moore. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

Castaneda’s second yellow card, however, was Colts Neck’s life line, if not immediately. After coming up empty with a flurry of shots during the first five minutes of 11-on-10, Colts Neck finally made its move with under two minutes to go. Moore won the ball in the middle of the field 10 yards beyond the top of the 18-yard box and quickly slid it out wide to the left.

Senior Ben Kazani one-touched the ball back to the upper regions of the 18-yard box, where Kruglyansky was wide open. Taking his time, Kruglyansky faced Kazani as the ball came his way, then turned over his left shoulder and drilled a low strike into the lower left of the net from 15 yards out to tie the game with 1:04 showing on the game clock.

With the game now tied, Colts Neck ramped up its attack even more and nearly forced its way back into the goal in the final minute. While the Cougars could not avoid overtime, it did not take Moore long to end the game with the 20th goal of his junior season.

Kruglyansky also initiated the winning goal by stealing the ball at midfield and shuffling a pass to Moore, who carried the ball 50 yards to the spot of his winning goal. Kruglyansky was battling cramps and soreness in his calf throughout the second half, but managed to get back on the field for the two plays that decided the game.

“I saw that Gabe was not giving up,” Moore said. “He was finishing the play and doing what he does best. We won this game because Gabe made a play. We won because Gabe finished it off and gave me a chance to do something in overtime.”

Through 54 minutes, Colts Neck dominated the match to the tune of a 10-1 advantage in shots, which included a sequence in the 14th minute during which Kruglyansky ripped a shot off the right post and fellow senior C.J. Collins followed up with a shot off the crossbar within seconds of one another. Moore also had a chance to bury Colts Neck’s first goal in the first half when Romano left his line, but junior Lucas Torres slid in front of Moore’s shot and blocked it with his upper body.

Castaneda finally unleashed Freehold Township’s first dangerous attempt — a 25-yard strike that sailed less than a foot over the crossbar in the 55th minute. Four minutes later, Freehold Township drew a foul to set up the free kick that led to the corner kick that Castaneda put on Lockard’s head for the go-ahead goal.

Colts Neck produced multiple shots that tested Romano prior to Kruglyansky’s goal, the most dangerous of which was a 15-yard missile by Moore that Romano parried over the bar with a leaping save in the 70th minute.

“I want to shout out (Romano): he did an amazing job out there,” Kruglyansky said. “We came out with the win at the end, but I just want to shout him out because he played great. We kept fighting, kept shooting and finally got one in at the end. We just wanted it more.”

Freehold Township nearly added a second goal just minutes earlier, but senior Gabe Bormolini used his hands to redirect a dangerous cross from Castaneda into the goal and was issued a yellow card for an intentional hand ball.

The way Wednesday’s semifinal played out closely resembled the first meeting between the two teams, which came during the Shore Conference Tournament group stage. Playing on Colts Neck’s grass field, Freehold Township grabbed the lead for the first time in the 68th minute and held it until the 76th, when Kazani buried a game-tying free kick. In the sixth minute of overtime, Moore ended the game with a golden goal, which made him the all-time leading goal-scorer in Colts Neck history.

“Obviously this was much bigger,” Kruglyansky said. “It was the semifinals, we were on a turf field and not a grass field. We just work to the end as a team. Fight until the end.”

The missed opportunity for Freehold Township is especially devastating for the Patriots after the team found out last week that it would be ineligible for the NJSIAA Tournament due to excessive red cards over the course of the season. With three straight-red cards as a team, Freehold Township is past the maximum allowed by the state in order to participate in the tournament.

Ryan Spencer (front) and goalkeeper Liam Collura celebrate Colts Neck's 2-1 win over Freehold Township. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com) - Colts Neck Ryan Spencer and Liam Collura celebrate the win

Ryan Spencer (front) and goalkeeper Liam Collura celebrate Colts Neck’s 2-1 win over Freehold Township. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspsportsimages.com)

That made the SCT Freehold Township’s first and final tournament of the season and despite drawing the No. 14 seed, the Patriots battled their way to the SCT semifinals for the first time in six years and were just over a minute away from knocking off the defending champions and taking on Middletown South for the championship on Saturday.

Instead, it will be Colts Neck that will face No. 4 Middletown South on Saturday at Memorial Field in what will be a rematch of a 1-0 Colts Neck victory on a Saturday morning in late September. Moore scored the game-winner in the first half and Colts Neck escaped with the victory despite being out-shot in the game, 12-8.

If Colts Neck can finish off a second consecutive SCT championship, the Cougars will join Christian Brothers Academy, Jackson Memorial, Ocean and Brick Memorial as the only programs with win back-to-back titles and the first public school to do it since Brick Memorial in 1996 and 1997. Middletown South, meanwhile, has never won a Shore Conference Tournament championship and the Eagles’ only appearance in the final came back in 2003.

“Everyone wants to take us down,” Kruglyansky said. “No one really expected us to be as great this year after losing stellar seniors from last year, but we fought.”

“This team is built for this,” Moore said. “We’re going to come on Saturday and show them who we are.”

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