Toms River East Boys Soccer Ousts Lacey as Dream Season Continues

TOMS RIVER — Bobby Calvo’s résumé as a varsity goalkeeper is rivaled by few in the state of New Jersey and yet, when Toms River East’s NJSIAA South Jersey Group III quarterfinal game against Lacey ended on Friday morning, it was his junior teammate, Michael Moore, who covered up the ball in the box as time expired on a hard-fought match.

Calvo’s willingness to give his teammate time in goal in exchange for a dual role of goalkeeper and striker underscores a team-wide attitude shared by all the players on a senior-led Raiders squad. They have been through battles and experienced heartbreak together, and now it’s time to bring home a championship.

Calvo and Moore combined on Toms River East’s ninth shutout this season and fifth in the last six matches, while senior Luke Bodziak provided the goal in the second-seeded Raiders’ 1-0 win over No. 7 Lacey.

Toms River East will attempt to reach the sectional final round for the first time since losing at Cherokee in the South Jersey Group IV final in 2011. The Raiders will host No. 3 Moorestown after the Quakers knocked out Toms River South, 3-0, on Friday afternoon.

During his first three seasons, Calvo has been an all-division goalkeeper and an All-Shore keeper as a junior, but he has been willing to change roles mid-game thanks to the presence of Moore. Calvo’s willingness to accept multiple roles despite boasting the most lofty individual accolades of anybody on the team has set a tone of selflessness and an emphasis on winning.

“The team needs Bobby on the field for half the game,” Toms River East coach Mike Konopka said. “They (Calvo and Moore) have a great relationship. The last three years, they have been hand-in-hand and Michael has stepped in a few times over the course of the season and has proven to be every bit as effective. Bobby was sick when we played Westfield (on Oct. 15), and Michael went in and shut out a top-five team in the state. It was at the point when I thought maybe we could start using Bobby in a different way. He wants us to go as far as we can and he always says, ‘Coach, I’ll do whatever you need me.'”

“The lineup has never been set in stone, so we have always had somebody changing somewhere to help the team,” Calvo said. “It’s more about how we are going to react to one another each day and if we can find the way to put the pieces together.”

The two goalkeepers benefitted from a Toms River East formation that controlled the game to the tune of a 20-6 advantage in shots, including 16-4 in the second half. Calvo made one save in the first half and Moore stopped one in the second as the tandem out-dueled counterpart and Lacey sophomore Dylan Graham, who scrambled for 13 saves in holding Toms River East to the singular goal.

“We knew it was going to be a close game,” Konopka said. “We know Dylan is a great goalkeeper and we spent the last two days in practice basically just finishing different ways — from the corner, from the point. Different combinations just hoping to find something that clicks. It ended up being off of a set piece and Dylan even got a finger on it, too. He made a couple other point-blank saves as well, so he was phenomenal.”

That one Raiders goal came in the eighth minute of the second half, when Toms River East earned a free kick from 30 yards out on the right side of the field. Senior Tommy Renkin served the ball into the box and Bodziak squared the ball up with his head, sending it toward the upper right side of the goal. Graham made a leaping attempt at the ball and got his hand on it, but could not keep it from settling into the side netting for the only goal of the game.

Toms River East takes a 1-0
Lead in the 49th. Luke Bodziak sneaks one by Graham on a service from Tommy Renkin. pic.twitter.com/2IoSoWmxdB

— Matt Manley (@Matt_Manley) November 8, 2024

“Our energy coming out of halftime was incredible,” Bodziak said. “We wanted it more, and we had a good free kick right to my head. I flicked it on goal and the keeper tipped it, but it went in and that’s all that matters.”

“It always seems like Luke is our savior when we need a goal,” Calvo said. “It feels like we are finding the same way to score every game. It’s always off some kind of cross or header, so it seems like we have found our recipe. We do it as many times as we can and eventually, we get one past.”

In closing out the game, Toms River East had to deal with losing one of its top players to injury, then losing a player to a second yellow card. Late in the first half, senior forward Rowen Joice was carted off the field after injuring his right knee and Konopka confirmed after the game that Joice sustained a torn ACL. Over the past two seasons, Joice has posted a combined 12 goals, including seven goals and four assists this season.

Calvo and junior Aidan Corapi picked up the slack up top in providing the pressure for Toms River East, with Corapi nearly extending the lead to 2-0 on a breakaway, only to be stuffed by Graham in the 64th minute.

“We have had the need up top where we didn’t have the legs or we needed some extra guys,” Calvo said. “We have had some position swaps with people. We have a striker who doesn’t play up top normally. We have had a few wingers get hurt during the season and moved people around. The whole dynamic has changed throughout the season and I know it’s best for the team if I play up top because I know I can play up there. I’m not going to be some star striker that scores 18 goals, but I’m going to work and keep the high press up.”

In the 74th minute, senior midfielder Billy Laudien was sent off with his second yellow card of the match, which forced Toms River East to play with 10 players on the field for the final 6:50 of the game. The Raiders, however, sunk into a defensive shape and prevented the Lions from getting to Moore. Lacey’s best chance was a clean, low shot by junior Anthony Introna that he hooked wide of the left post in the 77th minute.

Toms River East kept quiet a Lacey attack that carried the Lions to the Shore Conference Tournament semifinal round before pacing them to a first-round win over 10th-seeded Delsea on Tuesday. Junior Aiden Schmitt got off a dangerous volley that Calvo saved during the first half, while Lacey leading scorer Tanner Grozinski was held without a shot.

Friday’s match marked the first game Toms River East played against an SCT semifinalist this season, but the Raiders have been through plenty of battles against noteworthy competition this season. The Class A South division in which Toms River East plays is home to two teams — Toms River North and Southern Regional — that earned trips to the sectional semifinals in South Jersey Group IV, and another in Central that can join them if the Golden Eagles defeat Washington Township on Saturday. Toms River East beat Southern during the regular season while losing to Toms River North and Central — both of which were decided by one goal.

Outside of Class A South, Toms River East has beaten the likes of Manalapan (17-3-1), Holmdel (11-7-1), Marlboro (12-6-1) and St. John Vianney (12-6) and also played Westfield (17-2-3) to a 0-0 draw. The road to November has set Toms River East up for success in the NJSIAA Tournament after three straight years of being eliminated in the first round of the tournament.

“We were first-round exits last year and we remembered it,” Bodziak said. “We came into this season strong. We had a couple tough losses, but we also battled one of the top teams in the Shore and beat them. Played a couple other very good teams. Now, we’re here and we’re going to the semis.”

“I think we have had that grit since the beginning of the season,” Calvo said. “It took us a few games to figure it out, but once we got there, we figured out a way to get it done at the end and we always seem to. Me and most of the seniors have been playing together since we were six years old, and we have always played off each other. We’re friends on and off the field, and we are all doing this for each other. We have worked so long to get to this point and we don’t want it to end, so that extra mile that we go to is that push to stay together for as long as we can.”

“We’ve got some good competition coming up,” Bodziak said. “Moorestown, maybe Shawnee — I don’t know who it’s going to be in the finals, but we’re making it there and that’s all that matters. That’s our mindset.”