Tight Race in Boys Soccer Colonial-Liberty Division
One of the best races in South Jersey high school boys’ soccer comes in the Colonial Conference Liberty Division. This is among the best small-school divisions in the state—consisting of five Group 2 schools and one Group 1.
Last season Haddon Township not only won the division, but claimed the South Jersey Coaches Tournament, South Jersey Group 1 and state Group 1 titles.
Despite a great season last year, The Hawks are not considered a major contender in the Liberty.
Here were the standings to begin the week:
Haddon Heights 4-1
West Deptford 4-1
Sterling 3-2
Haddonfield 2-3
Haddon Township 2-3
Collingswood 0-5
The most improved team is Haddon Heights, which has already doubled its division win total after going 2-6-1 in the Liberty last year. The Garnets have been led by juniors Nolan Lachall, who has seven goals and Evan Rasicci, who has six. Senior Jake Greiss is the defensive leader while junior Sean Fischer has been strong in goal.
The one division loss for coach Jeff Eppright’s team has been to West Deptford, 4-2. The two teams meet again on Oct. 6 at West Deptford. The one division loss for West Deptford has been 1-0 against Sterling. The Eagles have beaten everybody else in the division once. Senior Mason Quinton has led the West Deptford attack with eight goals.
Sterling lost 2-0 on opening day to Haddon Heights, and 1-0 to Haddon Township.
Haddonfield, which has played one of the toughest non-league schedules in South Jersey, lost two of its three division games by identical 3-2 scores to Sterling and Haddon Heights in successive games.
Haddon Heights and West Deptford remain viable candidates to earn one of the 16 spots in the South Jersey Coaches Tournament. The final South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association Poll is Sunday (Oct. 8) and the top 16 teams will earn berths. If one of the teams declines an offer, then the next highest ranked team will earn an invitation.
Regardless of what happens there, the Colonial Liberty race looks to stay tight.
And of course, some Liberty teams may meet again in the postseason.
As of Sunday, all five teams were projected to qualify for the SJ Group 2 tournament.
According to the power points, courtesy of NJ.com, Haddon Heights was No. 3, Sterling No. 6, West Deptford No. 7, Haddonfield 11th and Collingswood 13th.
Group 2 will be extremely difficult, especially with the presence of two-time defending state champion Delran.
That is not to suggest that the Colonial teams won’t be competitive in Group 2, but what is known is that one of them is guaranteed to win the Liberty Division.
And it’s a race that could come right down to the wire.
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Author: Marc Narducci
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