Barrons lose another heartbreaker in GMCT final
St. Joseph falls to Monroe in boys' final
BY MIKE McDONALD
Staff Writer

PHOTOS BY CHRIS KELLY staff Above, Woodbridge's Ashley Grabowski (l)and Beth Fenton battle with East Brunswick's Carly Lenger for position during Sunday's GMCTfinal at Sayreville High School. Below, Woodbridge's Daria Bialik fires the ball upfield.

It is often said that history repeats itself. The saying certainly held true for the Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament's girls soccer final.

For the second straight year, Woodbridge High School lost to East Brunswick High School, and for the second straight year, the Barrons lost by the final score of 2-1 in overtime.

East Brunswick's Casey Caruso netted the game-winner off a long throw-in from Rachel Penn just 2:12 into the extra session to give the Bears the win.

EB took the lead early on when Melissa Demko score on a partial breakaway just 2:08 into the game, but the Barrons came back with a Mo Olivo goal off a Karol Gomez pass with just 4:37 to go in the first half. The Barrons were the better team for much of the first half, but were not able to enter the break with the lead.

The second half presented scoring chances for both teams, but neither squad was able to capitalize, sending the game into the extra session, where the Bears emerged victorious.

Following the tough loss, the entire Barrons team began thinking about its next game.

"The girls are not satisfied with where we are right now. We are working hard each and every day to try to get to where we need to be to compete for the state championship," said Woodbridge head coach Brian Figueiredo.

Sunday's loss in the championship game was all too familiar for Woodbridge High School, who along with losing to East Brunswick last year, also lost to the Bears in the championship game in 2004.

Sometimes a team just has another team's number. But then again, East Brunswick seems to have a lot of teams' numbers, going 18-4-1. The Bears have now been crowned the champion of the Greater Middlesex Conference the past four years and were the favorites going into this weekend's contest against Woodbridge.

But Woodbridge actually had a better overall record than East Brunswick, at 19-2-1. The Barrons have dominated their opponents all year - with goalie Amanda Small leading the way by not allowing a goal scored in 11 straight games at one point.

"The way Amanda has played all year is truly remarkable," said Figueiredo.

Once the team ran off 11 victories in a row, they emerged as the other favorite to make it to the Greater Middlesex Conference championship game. The team did as many expected, but just came up a little short in not being able to knock off the perennial powerhouse.

In a strange twist of events, East Brunswick, which was eliminated from the Central Jersey Group IV tournament on Thursday with a 1-0 loss to Montgomery, actually ended their season with the victory over the Barrons on Sunday. Woodbridge, however, still has games to be played for a much higher achievement. The Barrons are still alive in the state tournament and began state tournament play this week when they hosted North Hunterdon of Annandale in the semifinals of the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 playoffs on Monday. The Barrons are the top seed in the bracket, and hoped to advance to Thursday's sectional final, where they would host either Westfield of Bridgewater-Raritan.

A pleasant surprise for Woodbridge has been the return of Olivo. Olivo, who was thought to have a torn meniscus, did not, and was cleared to play in the loss to East Brunswick. The return of Olivo should inspire the team to play well the rest of the way. Figueiredo knows how important Olivo is to his team.

"Michelle is very good with both feet, which is rare to find at the high school level. She makes the most of every opportunity she gets," Figueiredo said.

This week, the entire Barrons team will be looking to make the most out of the opportunity to emerge as state champions.

St. Joseph's boys entered Sunday's boys final against a red-hot Monroe team knowing they would need to play a near-perfect game to win.

Unfortunately, it wasn't in the cards for the Falcons, as Monroe twice erased one-goal deficits to win their first GMCT title since 1993.

St. Joe's grabbed the quick lead when senior Christopher Yip scored on the first shot of the game, before Monroe answered with a Frank Carr tally 12:35 before the half. St. Joseph regained the lead 7:43 into the second half on a header from Bryan Gilmartin, but again Monroe tied it, this time on a Mike Buffalino goal on a rebound.

Monroe then got the game-winner near the end of regulation when senior Spencer Lawrence scored on a feed from his brother Sean. With the loss, St. Joseph fell to 12-8-1 on the year.