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Still Kicking: CBA Returns to Shore Conference Final

Matt Manley|October 25, 2024|Last Updated October 26, 2024

NEPTUNE — The entirety of the Shore Conference may well be used to seeing the Christian Brothers Academy soccer team reach the Shore Conference Tournament championship game, but most of the players on this team have only watched CBA play for a championship. They have not actually won it on the field with the Colts and after six games this season, it appeared it might stay that way for first-year senior regulars like Caden Darby.

Over the last month, CBA has transformed itself back into a championship contender and after another dominant performance on Thursday night in the Shore Conference Tournament semifinal vs. Lacey at Memorial Field in Neptune, the Colts are one win away from another title.

Darby landed the first strike with a penalty kick in the eighth minute and junior Devon Cale added another for insurance in the ninth minute of the second half to help CBA — No. 3 in the Shore Sports Insider Top 10 — overcome a dazzling goalkeeping display by Lacey sophomore Dylan Graham and advance to the SCT final with a 2-0 win over the Lions.

“We haven’t won anything yet, but this is so good for our momentum,” Darby said. “This was a great team win all around. Now, we just have to carry it into Saturday.”

CBA marches on to play in the SCT final for the 16th time in program history and will compete for its fourth consecutive conference tournament championship and 14th overall. This year’s trip to the championship game is unique in that CBA opened the year with just two returning starters and started the season 3-3 with out-of-conference losses of 4-0 and 5-0, plus a 1-0 loss at home to Rumson-Fair Haven.

“At the start of the season, we tried to play possession soccer like CBA always does,” Darby said. “We realized that’s not what we wanted to do, so we turned more defensive. Then, we weren’t scoring, so we had to adjust again. Now, we’re getting both, which is good. We were creating in the middle of the field and dominating them today and that’s how we have been getting our chances.”

Since the rocky start, the Colts have won 12 of their last 13 matches and have not conceded a goal in three Shore Conference Tournament games.

“Since first few games of the season, we have been way more direct,” Cale said. “We have been pressing hard and taking advantage of opponents that are maybe a little weaker in the back. We have been trying to win the ball, get it forward and keep it up there and we have been pretty successful at that lately.”

On Thursday night, CBA dominated play from the outset and turned its advantage in possession into a goal within the first 10 minutes of action. A trip inside the 18-yard box set up Darby for his penalty-kick conversion, which he slotted into the upper-right corner of the goal, well out of the reach of Graham.

“(Graham) is very well-known,” Darby said. “He is a very good keeper, so I knew going in that I was going to have to slot it. I picked my spot and I had all the confidence in myself.”

From there, Lacey’s sophomore goalkeeper stonewalled CBA until the 49th minute, when Cale pounced on a loose ball in front of the net with Graham on the ground following a diving save. Senior Nick Tesauro won the ball for CBA near midfield, sent it across the field to junior James Brady, who unleashed the initial shot from 20 yards out that Graham saved. The ball settled in front of the goal and Cale charged in for a powerful finish.

“It was unfortunate we couldn’t score before that to create some distance, but I was real proud of the boys for sticking with it and just happy I capitalized on that chance,” Cale said. “I felt really good after that. I felt we deserved to be up more than that, but I was happy with how we were playing.”

Graham finished the game with 12 saves to keep Lacey within shouting distance of CBA throughout the match. Lacey’s lone opportunity was a breakaway for junior Anthony Introna in the 66th minute, which ended with Introna’s shot skipping wide of the left post. The Colts finished the game with a commanding 24-2 advantage in shots, including 14-0 in shots on goal.

“We had our chances in the first half and credit to (Graham), we were able to put one away outside of my PK,” Darby said. “We knew one goal is not enough in a game like this so we were focused on coming out, keeping the pressure up and finding a way to get that second goal however we could. Devon had a great goal and we have a chance to move on.”

CBA’s run of shutouts during the SCT continues a trend that took hold following CBA’s fourth game of the season. After allowing 11 goals in those first four matches, the Colts have surrendered only five in the next 15. Lacey entered Thursday on a 10-game unbeaten streak, during which the Lions went 9-0-1. They scored five goals in a quarterfinal win over Central and had scored seven goals in their last 140 minutes prior to running into CBA.

“Our chemistry has really grown,” Cale said. “At the beginning of the season, we were almost at each other’s throats. We have really matured as a group and we’ve gained experience with everything we have gone through. That’s why we have been able to play so well and coach (Tom) Mulligan has really helped us, especially the juniors.”

On Saturday, CBA will face a Colts Neck program that has never won the Shore Conference Tournament, nor has it reached the championship game since 2001. The Cougars, however, are undefeated, have been ranked as the No. 1 team in the Shore Conference since the last week of September and have played like the No. 1 team since opening day — including in their come-from-behind win over Ocean in Thursday’s semifinal round.

Colts Neck boasts two forwards with 20 goals apiece in brothers Sean and Kyle Moore that have led the highest-scoring attack in the Shore Conference (3.76 goals per game). The Cougars also have a goalkeeper that rivals the ability of Graham in senior Justin Appel, who has combined with a defense that has conceded just 12 goals in 17 games. Colts Neck is No. 1 in the Shore Conference in both total goals allowed and goals allowed per game (0.71).

All of that combines to form a major threat to CBA’s run of consecutive Shore Conference Tournament championships, but the Colts players are embracing the role of underdog, just as they have since they started the season 3-3 and fell as low as No. 5 in the Shore Sports Insider rankings.

“We got off to the roughest start a CBA team has experienced in a while, but that’s not what matters now,” Darby said. “We always had the talent, but we weren’t a very good team yet and Mulligan will tell you that. That’s what he told us, but he also told us what we could be and we just kept working for it. It’s a great team with great talent.”

“It would be really cool to be the fourth straight team to do it, especially since a lot of people are counting us as the underdog,” Cale said. “It has been weird, because CBA has always been the talk of the Shore and this year, people have considered us lower than usual, so to be here is great.”

 

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