South Jersey Soccer:
Hurricanes Three-Peat At Vineland Tournament

Sunday, May 28, 2000

By Jerry Amari
SJSports Special Correspondent

The Vineland Hurricanes roared back from a lackluster first half deficit to capture the Under-13 Boys Division of the 12th Annual Vineland Memorial Tournament. The Canes had won their age group in the previous two years against the Pittsgrove Vipers (1998) and the Medford Striker Sharks (1999). This year's challenger was the Cohansey Attack from Deerfield, NJ.

The sun finally shined on Southern New Jersey as the match began. With the toss of a coin, Cohansey chose to have the wind at their backs for the first half. The Attack were out to prove they were worthy of being in this final match against the heavily favored Hurricanes. Vineland was on its heels for the beginning of the match, as Cohansey got several good scoring chances. Near the 9 minute mark, the Attack hit the crossbar with a 20 yard shot. The ball did not go in for a score, but remained in front of the Hurricane goal. Cohansey was able to knock in the ball for an early 1-0 lead as Vineland failed to clear the ball away. Although Vineland had two corner kicks in the first half, the Hurricanes did not muster any serious threats at the Attack goalkeeper. The Vineland defense of Mike Rigo, Ryan Gregor, Evan Bostrom, Dan Peretti and Nick Ruskoski would regroup and stuff the Attack for most of the day.

The second half saw the Hurricanes play with more composure. Vineland launched 4 cornerkicks at the Attack goalkeeper in the first 10 minutes of play. Then Cohansey's defense was able to stop a breakaway shot by Kerry Daplyn. A direct kick by Cohansey was stopped on a great save by Bobby Rupp with eight minutes to play. The Hurricanes finally came to life as they controlled the ball in the Attack side of the field. Billy Redden's shot from 18 yards out sailed wide. Saverio Brunnetti's blast from 20 yards away went just over the crossbar. Now the Hurricanes were swirling around the field, anticipating and stealing passes from Cohansey, moving and shooting at the Attack goal as time was winding down. Saverio Brunnetti teed up the ball for a direct kick from 20 yards away. Brunnetti's shot was low and powerful as it smacked into the back of the net to tie the match at 1-1. Vineland had one more quality shot that missed the net as regulation time ended.

The championship game would go into two 5 minute overtimes. The first five minutes had the wind at Vineland's back. Cohansey was able to fire off two shots at the Hurricane net. The Canes moved the ball down the left side of the field. The Attack kicked the ball out of bounds. Halfback Tom Tobolski threw the ball in for Vineland. Kerry Daplyn settled the ball and touched it past the Cohansey keeper. The Hurricanes had their first lead of the day with 7 minutes of overtime to go. Vineland was able to avoid any great scoring chances by the Attack in the last minutes of overtime to win their divsion in Vineland for the third year in a row.

The first team the Hurricanes played in the Memorial Day tournament was the Upper Twp. Raptors. The Raptors hit the top of the crossbar bar 10 minutes into the match, but could not score. Vineland's Al Pellegrini's shot missed. Ryan Gregor's blast from 20 yards out, gave the Hurricanes the 1-0 lead at the 20 minute mark. Steve Bond scored just before halftime with assists from Tom Tobolski and Ryan Gregor. Kerry Daplyn knocked in a goal off a Steve Bond rebound. Upper Twp. pressured Vineland but could not score. Hurricane goalie Bobby Rupp got the shutout victory.

The Cohansey Crunch was next for the Hurricanes. Six minutes into the match Steve Bond assisted Chris Downey for an early score. Cohansey stopped shots by Daplyn, Tobolski. An assist by Mike Amari to Steve Bond was called offside. Kerry Daplyn scored with less than two minutes in the half. In the second half, another Hurricane goal was negated on an offsides call. The Crunch cut the lead to 3-1 with less than 7 minutes to go. Vineland held on and ended up a perect 3 wins and no losses to win this year's championship.

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Photos by Boog Williams

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