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Holmdel Boys Soccer Knocks Off No. 2 Manasquan on Golden Goal

Matt Manley|September 28, 2024|Last Updated September 30, 2024

HOLMDEL — A season ago, Dom Poli was a starting sophomore defender on a Holmdel boys soccer team that beat Manasquan in the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group II championship game to win its second straight sectional title.

A year later, Poli’s services were needed elsewhere in the Hornets formation. After beginning the season playing in the back, Poli has since pushed up to the attack and after providing some early returns, he struck for his biggest moment as a scoring threat on Friday evening.

Poli finished the golden goal in the 15th minute of overtime to give Holmdel another memorable win over Manasquan, this time downing the No. 2 team in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10, 3-2, in extra time.

“I talked to coach (Matt Isaacson) before the season,” Poli said. “I’m just following his lead. He is directing our team. I’ll play wherever he wants me to play and hopefully, we’ll have success.

“The season hasn’t started the way we wanted it to. The pressure has slowly been coming off, but it doesn’t mean our team still doesn’t have to work for it. Playoffs are coming soon and that’s when we know our team has to succeed. We have to stay confident, gain our momentum and that’s really it.”

Holmdel took advantage of a red card against Manasquan in the 72nd minute that led to the game-tying goal by the Hornets and forced the visiting Warriors to play with 10 players for the final eight-plus minutes of regulation and 14-plus minutes of overtime. Manasquan senior Brandon Kunz was carded for an intentional handball inside the 18-yard box what he punched a headed ball by Holmdel senior Tyler Gravier that was carrying over his head and into the goal before he reacted with the two-hand parry.

On the ensuing penalty kick, Holmdel senior Stepan Kapranov buried the game-tying goal into the lower left corner, out of the reach of Manasquan goalkeeper Dylan Morris — even after Morris correctly guessed which area of the goal Kapranov would target. The equalizer was the eighth goal of the season for Kapranov.

“If that was me, I would have just let the ball go in,” Kapranov said. “I guess it’s better because (the penalty kick) is not 100 percent a goal, but I’m not missing from the spot.”

With a man advantage, Holmdel had the bulk of possession the rest of the way and it netted the Hornets two near scores during the first overtime period. Midway through the period, Kapranov played a back-heel pass to Nate Koenig, who blasted a top-of-the-18 shot just over the crossbar. In the final seconds of the first overtime, Hynes blasted a 45-yard shot that Morris saved from tucking into the upper left corner of the goal.

The Hornets created their next chance midway through the second overtime and did not miss it. Junior Luke Farrugia ran the ball down and struck a low shot that Manasquan goalkeeper Dylan Morris saved while diving to his left. The ball slowed up near the right side of the box and Poli beat the rest of the field to it, ending the game with an emphatic finish.

The ending to Friday’s match was reminiscent of last year’s regular-season tilt between Manasquan and Holmdel, which also ended with Holmdel beating Manasquan, 3-2, on an overtime goal by Joe Wang. Later in the year, Holmdel beat Manasquan, 1-0, to win the Central Group II championship.

“It’s getting to be very consistent,” Kapranov said of the results vs. Manasquan. “Every game against them is very close. Last year, it was almost the exact same thing: they went up, 2-1, we scored on a penalty to get it back, then in OT, we put it away.”

Heading into Friday’s game, Manasquan had the edge in senior experience and its performance in a win over Howell and in nearly beating No. 1 Colts Neck in a 3-2, overtime loss had the Warriors confident they could finally conquer Holmdel after losing four times to the Hornets in the past three seasons. Manasquan last beat Holmdel in 2015 and since that 4-1 result, Holmdel is 6-0-2 vs. the Warriors and one of the draws was a Holmdel win on penalties in the 2016 Shore Conference Tournament.

“It feels great to close them out,” Poli said. “Everybody was doubting us this year, especially for this game and then we have CBA on Monday. Everybody is doubting us, but I think we can compete with teams like this.”

On Friday, Holmdel started the game like the team with something to prove. The Hornets created two quick chances on the Manasquan goal and on the third, they broke through. Kapranov battled for the ball inside the 18-yard box and knocked it over to classmate Mike Wojie, who buried a shot inside the near-left post for a 1-0 lead in the sixth minute.

Manasquan regrouped and drew even in the 14th minute, when junior Cruz Farkas headed in a cross from senior Griffin Linstra — set up by an initial shot by senior Cooper Daly that hit the right post.

Both teams traded stretches of possession and shots and it was Manasquan that struck gold first. In the 50th minute, senior Cristian Gonzalez buried a direct kick from just outside the edge of the 18-yard box after a handball set him up for a booming left-footed strike that gave the Warriors the lead.

A free kick by Hynes from 45 yards out set up Holmdel’s equalizer in the 72nd, with the red card changing the tenor of the match.

“That gave us a lot of momentum, because we knew Step would put the ball in the back of the net,” Poli said. “We came out flying after that goal and we knew we had to put it away.”

Friday marked the third time this season Holmdel scored at least three goals in a game this season, but the first two came against Ranney and St. Rose. Through its first five games, Holmdel scored seven goals and six of them came in the win over Ranney. Over the next four, the Hornets have scored at least two goals in each game, with Poli’s move forward helping to create more scoring. Poli’s goal Friday was his third, while Wojie scored his second for Holmdel.

“I have my teammates: Step (Kapranov), Kieran (Hynes), Nate (Koenig), (Luke) Farrugia, and all those guys. I have been feeling more comfortable with them every game.”

The source of the struggle has been the graduation of two top scorers and All-Shore players in David Weiner and Frankie Brusco. The absence of both players has encouraged opposing teams to throw even more defensive attention at Kapranov — the reigning Shore Conference Player of the Year and Columbia University commit — in order to cut off Holmdel’s attack at its root.

“This year has been a little bit tougher for me, personally,” Kapranov said. “David was a great provider. He always won the midfield, he could always find me either from behind or to feet. He had that game IQ. This year, we’re missing a little bit of that talent, but these boys are hard-workers. The core of the team is still there. This game just shows we can win any game in the Shore Conference.”

Holmdel senior Stepan Kapranov. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com) - Middsouth vs Holmdel-7

Holmdel senior Stepan Kapranov. (Photo: Tom Smith | tspimages.com)

Even with the attention on him, Kapranov is at eight goals and six assists through nine matches, which means he has directly contributed to 14 of Holmdel’s 23 goals this season. When Holmdel created a chance on Friday, Kapranov was likely part of the set-up, if not the shot.

Holmdel has had players of Kapranov’s ilk over the past decade-and-a-half and one of them — 2019 graduate Anthony Arena — has been assisting the coaching staff this season. Arena was a Shore Conference Player of the Year as both a junior and senior on Holmdel’s back-to-back NJSIAA Group II championship teams before playing at both Monmouth University and Rowan University.

“I have been on varsity for three years, so my name is out there,” Kapranov said. “Almost every team knows about me and they are putting their biggest guy, their fastest guy, their most athletic guy on me. We have (former Shore Conference Player of the Year) Anthony Arena here for almost every game and he has been through the same thing. He is a great person to look up to.”

Holmdel wraps up a challenging six-day stretch with a Monday trip to Christian Brothers Academy. Rumson-Fair Haven handed Holmdel a crushing, 3-2, overtime loss on Wednesday night and after feeling the other side of an overtime result on Friday, the Hornets will hope to ride the wave of momentum to a win over the three-time defending Shore Conference Tournament champions.

“This one means a lot,” Kapranov said. “This season has been a little rough. We have had a few unlucky games, losses in overtime. We needed this one for confidence and for morale and we’ve got CBA Monday.

“It’s gettin close to postseason and that’s when we have to find form. This is a game that is putting us on the right track.”

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