In 2014 on a cold late November afternoon at Kean University, the Washington township Minutemen Soccer team won the first soccer state championship in school history. A year later, the team found themselves back at Kean University once again, ready and prepared to defend their title against a tough team from West Orange County. Only this year it was different. The team wasn’t supposed to be in this game and they were heavy underdogs in the game. No one expected them to win, but as the clock hit 0, the Minutemen once again stood atop of group four soccer, and were State Champions for the second year in a row.
“This year was different” said Travis Yates ’16. “Last season, everyone expected us to be good and to contend for a state title, but this year no one knew what kind of team we had, and no one outside of this team thought we would even come close to winning another state title.”
After dominating all of south jersey, it was clear the Minutemen were playing their best soccer of the season, and were certainly a force to be reckoned with. Yet still, the Minutemen were underdogs coming into the State Final game against the high powered north jersey powerhouse, West Orange County. The team from West Orange had one of the most prolific defenses in the state, and one of the most suffocating defenses as well. It was clear this game was going to be a tough match for the Minutemen, and on top of this they were unsure as to whether their star player, Ryan Logar, would be able to play in the game after suffering a severely sprained ankle in the state semifinal game against freehold township. Although unsure of the status of Logar, the team worked hard in practice all week, and came into the game not knowing if they would have their captain out there to battle with them, but certainly prepared to put everything they had into this game and to fight to bring the state championship home for the second straight year.
As warmups began, Logar was on the field with his teammates testing out his sprained ankle, and during this time he told Snyder he was good to go.
“Finding out Ryan was going to play was a huge boost for the team, he’s one of our best players and one of our leaders” said Neil Doshi ’16 “Having him wanting to play through the pain showed us how bad he wanted to win this game, and it really rallied the team and made everyone give everything they could.”
With their star on the field, the Minutemen were ready to square off with the highly esteemed West Orange team, and show everyone that they were the team to beat for the second straight year. For the first 22 minutes the teams looked evenly matched, and both defenses looked impenetrable. But, as Colin Yeiter crossed a corner into the box, the tides were about to turn.
As the ball sailed through the air, it found the injured left foot of Logar, who booted it in the bottom left corner past the diving keeper to give the Minutemen a 1-0 lead.
“When I saw the ball hit the back of the net I was so happy” said Brent Keeley ’16. “I knew that was the goal that we needed to take control of the game, and the fact that Ryan scored it off his injured foot was unbelievable.”
This gutty goal from Logar would give the Minutemen the lead that they needed, and swing momentum in their favor. After this goal, the Minutemen Defense went into lock down mode, completely shutting down the high powered offense, and allowing only three shots on net, none of which were legitimate scoring chances. With seniors Marc Murgo, Mike Roscioli, and Will Connoly swarming all over the West Orange team, their offense could not get anything started. The West Orange offense was stunned, and they could not send the full squad on attack because they had to respect the speed of the minutemen strikers, such as the young striker Clayton Crosse ’18. With the defense suffocating the offense time and time again, the Minutemen were able to dominate the game, and come away with a 1-0 victory, and their second straight state championship.
“Winning this year felt even better than winning last year” said Keeley ’16. “No one thought we would win it this year, and to end my soccer career on this note is the best way I can think of possibly ending it.”
“I can’t believe we won this game, and I wouldn’t have wanted to do it with anyone else” said Doshi ’16. “This is the best group of guys I have ever played with, and I love every one of them.”
After coming into this season with exceedingly lower expectations than last season, the Minutemen were able to play fantastic defense all year, and have timely scoring en route to their second straight championship, one that no one thought they would have a chance at winning this season. The Seniors on this year’s team proved that they were able to use their experience and skills to lead this team, and the blend of this experience, talent, and a great young group of players, the Minutemen were able to dominate once again this season, and come out as the number one team in New Jersey for the second straight year. On top of this, the Minutemen were the tenth ranked team in all of the country. As for next season, it will be interesting to see if the young core of players are able to keep up this high standard of play, and maybe possibly bring home a third state championship.