ST. BENEDICT'S BACK ON TOP AND PRIMED TO STAY FOR AWHILE
Gray Bees begin chase for National title No. 7
Sept. 3, 2009
One loss.
That was the only thing standing between St. Benedict's and National Championship No. 7 last season.
One loss.
It also showed how far the Gray Bees had come from, by their own admission, a disastrous, 5-loss season only a year earlier.
"You can look at it two ways," said St. Benedict's coach Rick Jacobs. "We were team that was a whisper away from being undefeated or a team that was your consummate overachiever. I'd like to think it was the latter."
Last year's team, no matter how you look at it, put St. Benedict's back where it belonged - battling for a national title.
The Gray Bees showed no ill side affects from a tumultuous 2007 campaign and rebounded last season with a 20-1 ledger with nearly the identical cast that posted a 15-5-1 record the year before.
"I think that's a tribute to the program and how we do things," said Jacobs. "We took our lumps the year before and had the know-how to put it back together last year."
Now that the ship has been righted, Jacobs' team doesn't plan on showing a chink in the armor any time soon.
The 2009 version of Gray Bees is laden with talent that runs deeper than any team since the back-to-back national champions of 2005 and '06.
And it all starts in the middle with Bonny Londono and Larry Serrano.
Londono, a senior captain, is perhaps one of the top defensive central midfielders in the nation. He is being recruited by all the top NCAA Division 1 powers, but Connecticut may have the inside track.
Serrano, a senior from Paterson, will give St. Benedict's a presence that coach Rick Jacobs club has lacked over the last couple of years - a go-to guy who can make the players around him better.
"He is very technically sound and a thinking type of player - one that allows other people to get in the game," said Jacobs. "With him and Bonny providing a one-two punch in the middle, we have two very special players who are both complementary of each other in terms of how we play."
Those two stalwarts in the middle will be fronted by Sam Adjei, who came to St. Benedict's as a heralded freshman, but the maturation process never materialized. Adjei, now three years older - and stronger - is back in the lineup as a senior and expected to provide a much-needed scoring punch up front.
Adjei will be aided up front by the relentless Branko Dugalic, the speedy Musa Sackoon and a technically sound Chris Garcia. Sackoon and Garcia will also be available, with Beau Gordon, to offer Londono and Serrano strength in the middle.
The Gray Bees, as usual, will be extremely strong in the back with any combination of Bryan Gallego, Mike Stalker, Clint Stalker and Leo Casas holding down the fort in front of goalkeeper Chris Lands.
To say this team is solid in every aspect of the game may just be an understatement. But, Jacobs cautions, "We must continue to develop and continue to work hard to achieve our goals."
Jacobs, who earned his 500th career coaching victory last year, can also see that the national picture looks much clearer than it did before any of the two previous seasons and sounds awfully confident about the 2009 version of the Gray Bees.
"This team shouldn't be wanting much," said the coach, entering his 25th year at the helm. "We have a couple of special players that can make a difference and play at a higher level when the rest of team is just playing OK. We haven't had that in a few years."
One loss?
That may never come this year and that suits the Grays Bees and their faithful just fine.
-- By Ron Jandoli
The St. Benedict's soccer team was recognized as the No. 1 all-sports program of the decade, as voted on by a panel of sportswriters by The Star-Ledger in its "Best of the Decade" issue, which hit newsstands on New Years Eve.
Bonny Londono has decided to stay home in New Jersey..jpg)
"He came here as a strong and talented soccer player that needed to reach a level of maturity off the field that he displayed on it," stressed Jacobs. "I think he has done that and will need to continue to make improvements off the field as his career progresses."
But, instead of seeing the season fall into the abyss, Londono and fellow captains Leo Casas and Mike Stalker helped right the ship with a leadership that brought the team back from the brink.
Noah Sadaoui converted the ensuing direct kick when his right-footed serve sailed high through the goal-mouth and caromed off the far right post before banging off the goalkeeper and into the goal.
"We could have made it easier, but that's why we scored the third goal," said Jacobs before basking in the accomplishment of all these state titles.
Coach Rick Jacobs' club advanced to another State Prep A championship final with a dominant, 2-0, victory over Lawrenceville in Wednesday's semifinals at NJIT.
Caso scored both goals against Lawrenceville in the last meeting between the two clubs.
Coach Rick Jacobs' club exploded for three goals in a 2:06 span, two by senior forward Branko Dugalic, during a five-goal first half against Waterford (9-4-2). Dugalic added a third goal for his first hat trick, while Beau Gordon and Vitaly Zaluha scored once each and Noah Sadaoui and Clint Caso contributed with two assists apiece.
The Gray Bees (12-2) built a two-goal advantage in the opening half on goals by Clint Caso and Sam Adjei. Caso, who scored both goals in the previous outing against Lawrenceville, used his deadly left foot to once again cause havoc.
Caso scored directly off a corner kick and then again on a long shot from just inside the right sideline to help the Gray Bees post a 2-1 victory Wednesday on the road.
Though, not the likeliest ways to score, the goals were just rewards for all St. Benedict's hard work. Before and after Caso's goals, the Gray Bees caused havoc the entire time, as attested once again by its huge margin in shots, 21-3. There were numerous missed chances by the likes Musa Sackoon, Noah Sadaoui, Branko Dugalic, Wagner Pedroso and Sammy Adjei.
And, once again, St. Benedict's, the No. 2 team in America, fell behind by two goals to the team from Mount Holly before seeing its furious second-half rally fall just short and dropped a 2-1 decision at the Rancocas Valley Sports Complex in Eastampton.
The Gray Bees had quality chances to knot the score before the half ended and when the second half began. Musa Sackoon fired a weak shot at the goalkeeper right before intermission and Jon Moraes and fired one shot directly at the goalie and another over the pipe early in the second half.
St. Benedict's - again so eerily familiar to last year - didn't wilt, however. The Gray Bees pressure even intensified and they finally broke through with 4:20 left when Sammy Adjei converted a header off a cross from Larry Serrano.
With many of the starters watching from the sidelines or playing sparingly, a number of players, including Jon Moraes, Grant Taylor, Spencer Hambleton and Renan Reinoso seized the opportunity.
But, thanks to senior goalkeeper Chris Lands, that never came to fruition.
But in vintage St. Benedict's fashion, Lands came up big to hold the score there.
Sackoon then stripped a ball from another Salesianum ball carrier near midfield six minutes later. He quickly unloaded a serve into the box where Escalante was making a superb diagonal run and finished off his shot after a determined effort in the box.
Londono, a defensive central midfielder who hit the pipe with two shots earlier in the contest, forced his way into the left side of the box by beating one defender and muscling past another before unloading a shot that was knocked down with a spectacular save by the Germantown goalkeeper.
St. Benedict's is beginning to play like a team that can contend for a national title.
And the quick strike by Wagner Pedroso in the fifth minute helped ease the tension that has been slowly creeping into the psyche of the Gray Bees offense.
Clint Caso hit a scorching shot from 18 yards out and scored the game-winning goal with only 3:23 left when St. Benedict's posted a 2-1 victory over Peddie before a boisterous home crowd Tuesday at Fr. Benedict Tyler Field.
St. Benedict's, which held steady at No. 4 when the latest 
Bryan Gallego sent a long serve into the box from right in front of the Gray Bees bench near the center line. Bejarano out-leaped a host of defenders and headed the ball off the right post.
"We're creating a ton of great chances and getting some great looks," said St. Benedict's coach Rick Jacobs. "We've been unlucky and come against a pair of goalies that have been tremendous. But if unlucky means wins, I'll take it every time."
But the blast from 30 yards out struck the cross bar flush and caromed away.
Adjei was sent in alone on goal, but McCarthy came charging out to make a diving save to his left. Londono's follow on the rebound once again found a defender before a third shot was fired over the top.
The Gray Bees, which held a 23-2 advantage in shots, scored after Sammy Adjei played a through ball to the right end line to Musa Sackoon, who side-stepped one defender and sent a cross toward the goal mouth. The ball deflected off a defender and found itself inside the Pennington goal.
Adjei then had an opportunity himself only a minute later after Mike Stalker and Chris Garcia worked a give-and-go into the right side of the box. Adjei cracked a full-volley off the cross from Garcia that was somehow knocked away by the very agile Pennington goalkeeper, John Ricketti.
The only glaring sloppiness was that the Gray Bees relinquished an own goal. But that only came after Jacobs' club had already built a five-goal cushion.
Clint Caso upped the cushion to two goals three minutes later off a corner kick. Larry Serrano's corner kick sailed through the goal mouth, but Bryan Gallego played the ball back in to Caso, who one-timed a left-footed shot from in close.