South Jersey Soccer:
Vineland Hurricanes Split First Two Games

Friday, October 2, 1998

By Jerry Amari
SJSports Special Correspondent

The Fall '98 Travelling Soccer Season is underway. This Fall, the Vineland Hurricanes Under-12 boys have blown back into the North American Division. The Hurricanes are now considered one of the top twelve boys travel teams in South Jersey in their age group. The Fall schedule has the boys playing a rugged schedule with matches against two former Olympic clubs (Mt. Laurel and Medford). In early November we'll journey to Princeton to play the "Union". None of the teams on the schedule will be easy.

Week One had the Hurricanes traveling to Cinnaminson to play the Clash. Summer held its grip on South Jersey as temperatures hovered around 90 degrees. Vineland controlled the tempo of the game during the opening ten minutes of play. Two scoring attempts by the Clash were turned away by defensemen Evan Bostrom and Nick Ruskoski. Goalkeeper Jeremy Chini made several key saves against Cinnaminson as the half worn on. The first half ended in a 0-0 tie.

In the early minutes of the second half, halback Saverio Brunetti's "point blank" shot missed wide on the inside post. The Clash put together three tough shots at the Vineland goal, but goalie Chini cleared the ball away each time. The tables turned midway thru the period as Cinnaminson started to wilt with the heat. The Hurricanes' Billy Redden brought the ball in close to the Clash goal. Redden's pass to Chris Downey threw the Clash defense off-balance. Downey got the ball across the goalmouth to Brunetti but Vineland was turned away by the Clash defense. Vineland threw everything at the Cinnaminson net, Redden intercepted a clearing kick by the Clash and neatly deposited the ball into the Cinnaminson goal with six minutes to go to grab a 1-0 lead.

Steve Bond, Ryan Gregor, Dan Perretti, and Mike Rigo hustled on defense for the Hurricanes in the win. Halfbacks Mike Amari, Al Pellegrini and Tom Tobolski fed the ball to forwards Kerry Daplyn and Bob Rupp to keep the pressure on the Clash the rest of the game.

Week two, saw the Vineland "Hurricanes" hosting the Mt. Laurel "Storm" in a battle of the weather mascots. The match was physical from the start. Vineland went immediately on the offensive. Billy Redden's pass to a rushing centerforward Kerry Daplyn was stopped by the "Storm" goalie. At the thirteen minute mark halfback Al Pellegrini passed the ball up to Bobby Rupp. A Mt. Laurel defender knocked Rupp down in the "box." Vineland was awarded a penalty kick. Billy Redden's shot blasted its way into the upper left corner of the net for 1-0 lead. Mt. Laurel picked up the pace of its game and knotted the score at 1-1 at the 20 minute mark.

The second half started with Vineland reeling into a defensive mode as Mt. Laurel kept Vineland pinned in their own zone on the field. A Mt. Laurel cornerkick was chipped into the goal past frantic Hurricane defensemen to give the Storm a 2-1 lead. The Hurricanes scrambled back into the game with shots by Saverio Brunetti, Kerry Daplyn, Chris Downey and Billy Redden in the second half. The Mt. Laurel Storm prevailed in the hard fought victory over the Hurricanes. Vineland's record is now: 1W, 1L