New faces are coming into Lincroft, New Jersey as the Brookdale men’s soccer team looks to continue its dominance in both the Garden State Athletic Conference and Region XIX this season.
One regular season loss, an undefeated season and a number one nationally ranked team in 2008; the Jersey Blues will once again look to finally bring that national title back to Lincroft, New Jersey for the first time in school history.
This time the play is going to have to come from a new bunch. With eight starters from last year’s team departing, including two-time All-American forward Joe Parella, and All-Region defender Andrew Donoghue, the Jersey Blues must find offense and defense from their incoming class.
It will not be easy to replace Parella, who last year broke a 23-year old scoring record. Tomas Chochluala, the leading scorer for Brookdale back in 2006 rejoins the team and will look to fill in for Parella. He will be teamed with former Long Branch high school standout Brian Duran who has performed well in preseason. David Cornwell, who’s an English born native out from Manchester, has flown into the states to join the Jersey Blues’ midfield.
Bringing in seven new defenders including All-Shore stand-outs Jack Parkin, Ryan Cruz, and Gary Papa, the team looks to be on the right track. This is the first time in recent memory Brookdale has stacked its defense this deep. The newcomers will have little time to adjust, since there are no returners from last year’s stingy defense that averaged .89 goals a game.
With the new crowd coming in, there are still some familiar faces that were key components from just a season ago. Returning starter Brett Bailari, a midfielder out of North Jersey has matured in the offseason and will be a leader on the field. Also returning is Sebastian Carbonell, a midfielder from Woodbridge who has stepped his game up during preseason and looks to start this year.
Head coach Mike Costa is optimistic about his boys, “the team is a work in progress” he said in a phone interview. “This is the biggest team I have had at Brookdale”, he also said and winning head balls should not be a problem.
Brookdale opens up the 2010 campaign at Middlesex Community College on September 2nd before leaving for a tough southern tournament in Maryland the following weekend. When they return back to Brookdale, the Jersey Blues have their first date with reigning national champion Union Community College.
