South Jersey Soccer:
Vineland Hurricanes Overcome Mt. Laurel Jaguars

Sunday, November 1, 1998

By Jerry Amari
SJSports Special Correspondent

The Vineland Hurricanes traveled to Lenape Regional High School to play the Mt. Laurel Jaguars. The match was the second time these teams had met this season. Although the Hurricanes won the first meeting (5-1), the Jaguars had upset on their minds as the rematch unfolded.

The Lenape field was quite breezy with a cross wind at game time. The Jaguars stayed composed against the initial Vineland attack at their goal. The Mt. Laurel counterattack gave the Jaguars a 1-0 lead at the 13 minute mark. Vineland dug themselves deeper into a hole as a high "chip" shot doubled the Jaguar lead to 2-0. The Hurricanes' comeback started at 16 minutes into the half as left forward Chris Downey's low roller got by the Mt. Laurel goalie. Right forward Bob Rupp finished the play into the net, and Vineland had cut the lead in half. 6 minutes later left halfback Steve Bond broke out at midfield and crushed a long low-angled shot. The ball hit the inside of left post of the Jaguar goal to knot the match at 2-2.

The second half was filled with compelling soccer, shots by the Vineland offense of Bob Rupp, Saverio Brunetti, Billy Redden, and Al Pellegrini barraged the Mt. Laurel net. Saverio Brunetti's goal gave Vineland its first lead of the afternoon at 3-2. Mike Amari's pass to Chris Downey found its way to center-forward Nick Ruskoski, who finished the play with a sweet goal and a 4-2 Hurricane lead. With less than 6 minutes to play Mt. Laurel closed the gap to 4-3 with a lot of activity in front of the Vineland net. Vineland found "that the best defense is a good offense" and fielded several shots at the Jaguar goal in the closing minutes of the match.