By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
OCEAN CITY — A strong first-half performance was enough for the Red Raiders to beat the Falcons on Saturday, Nov. 14, in the first round of the South West D Group III boys soccer playoffs.
But Ocean City (9-1-1) head coach Aaron Bogushefsky was not happy with the second-half performance against Burlington Township (2-10), telling players they must work hard for 80 minutes if they plan to win the quarterfinal against Northern Burlington High School, which was scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 17, after the Sentinel went to press.
“When you play this time of year it’s do or die, so they are going to give you everything they’ve got. In the second half they really tried to put on the afterburners. They gave us a little bit of a run,” Bogushefsky said. “We left too many goals on the field in the second half and we could really do better at putting those away.”
Junior Ori Levy-Smith, sophomore Paul Tjoumakaris and senior Reed Lindsay scored goals, while Nick Chiccarine had two assists and fellow sophomore Kyle Harper had one.
Levy-Smith opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Team captain John Lindsay had the ball in the middle of the field and passed to Chiccarine, who was streaking down the left sideline. Chiccarine moved diagonally toward goal and passed across the face of the net to Levy-Smith, who had an easy tap in.
“It was a hustle play. We had some great passing and Ori put it in the back of the net,” Chiccarine said.
Tjoumakaris, who was playing in his first varsity game, followed Levy-Smith’s goal with one from about 20 yards out just 3 minutes later to increase the Red Raiders’ lead to 2-0. Playing a high defensive line, Harper passed to Tjoumakaris who had an open look and took it. Bogushefsky said Tjoumakaris “had a great start.”
Following a goal kick into the wind, scrappy freshman Kai Lindsay took the ball away from a Burlington midfielder. He dropped it off for Reed Lindsay, who played a give-and-go with Chiccarine and buried the ball in the back of the net ay 9:34 of the first half.
“He called for the ball and I know when Reed calls for it, he wants the ball, so I passed it right to him and he put it in the back of the net,” Chiccarine said.
The team’s balanced attack has benefitted from multiple goals by multiple players all season. Reed Lindsay is now the top scorer with 6 goals and 15 assists. Harper is second with 5, while Chiccarine, Levy-Smith, freshman Wade Hudak, junior John Lindsay, junior Ben Steiger and sophomore Drew Tarr have 4 apiece.
Bogushefsky said Chiccarine is “really stepping up to another level right now.”
“His stat sheet doesn’t always show a whole lot all the time but as of late he has really been at the right place at the right time and doing his job and putting work in and it’s showing now. We are appreciative of him and I told him I thought he played one of his best games all season,” Bogushefsky said.
Ocean City had multiple chances to put the game out of reach in the second half but could not finish the job.
John Lindsay said the team just got a little sloppy.
“I think the wind kind of tied us up but at the same time it’s our fault for not recognizing passes that we needed to make. We’ll go over that in practice and get it figured out,” he said.
The Red Raiders’ only loss all season was a 3-0 decision at St. Augustine Prep, a perennial powerhouse in southern New Jersey. Bogushefsky called the loss the turning point for the team’s season because they had played only local opponents prior to that game.
“We realized that we can’t just get by with just playing scared or mediocre, it has to be all out. So that game was probably a blessing for us that we had that. That’s why we want to play tough games on the schedule and this season just did not lend itself to that,” Bogushefsky said. “We’re headed in the right direction now.”
Ocean City, the No. 3 seed, is playing in the Southwest D, Group III sectional. If they win against No. 6 Northern Burlington, they will face the winner of No. 2 Moorestown vs. No. 7 Gloucester Tech on Thursday. The sectional final is set for Saturday. Triton is the No. 1 seed in the tournament and is on the other side of the bracket.
Girls soccer
The Ocean City girls are the No. 2 seed in the South East B sectional tournament. They earned a first-round bye and are scheduled to play at 2 p.m. today, Nov. 18, hosting No. 7 Vineland in the quarterfinals.
If Ocean City wins, the girls will play the winner of No. 3 Mainland vs. No. 6 Hammonton. The sectional final is scheduled for Sunday. Millville, the No. 1 seed in the tournament, is on the other side of the bracket.