By DAVE O’SULLIVAN
Staff Writer
On X @Gdsullysays
RICHLAND — If there was any doubt prior to the start of the 2024 boys soccer season who the team to beat in the Cape-Atlantic League is, there isn’t anymore.
St. Augustine Prep took care of rival Ocean City with relative ease on Tuesday afternoon in the season opener for both teams, scoring two early goals and cruising to a 4-0 victory. There may be some new faces on the varsity roster in Richland, but the Hermits have the same expectations they always have — to bring home four trophies, the CAL, the Coaches Cup and sectional and state titles. The Hermits never shy away from those lofty goals, and looked to be nearly in midseason form against the Red Raiders, typically one of Prep’s biggest challengers in the CAL.
“We came out really confident — but we’re always going to come out confident. We’re The Prep,” said star senior forward Alex Clark, who notched assists on all four Hermits goals. “We felt good coming in today. We had a couple new transfers come in and join us and they played really well. Our forwards were moving the ball around, our defense put it on lockdown with no goals. We played well.”
St. Augustine Prep (1-0, 1-0 Cape-Atlantic League American) got on the board early, notching the game’s first goal in the ninth minute as Clark played a ball through to Mike Coluzzi, who calmly finished to put the Hermits up, 1-0. In the 31st minute, Prep extended its lead to 2-0 when John Lamanteer finished a cross from Clark.
Throughout the first half — and really the entire game — St. Augustine Prep’s midfield dominated and continued to set the forwards up with great chances around the net.
“Our midfield was dominant today, they moved the ball around great,” Clark said. “We had an all-senior midfield last year, and now we have a senior and two sophomores. They learned from past years, and they were good (today).”
“We have a lot of new guys in the starting lineup, so it’s new and exciting. Our coach (Justin Abbey) wants to win as badly as anybody on the field, so there’s a lot of energy everywhere, everybody wants it. The energy needs to be there (every game),” said senior defender Drew Davis. “I thought we were a little jittery because we were so excited to get out there. On the ball (early) we were a little shaky, but we settled in. The biggest thing was just to play our game. As long as we’re moving the ball and doing our thing and defensively going 100 miles-per-hour; as long as we can compose ourselves and move the ball, everything we work on opens things up.”
In the 51st minute Frankie Brown ripped a shot into the upper left corner of the goal from about 20 yards out to put Prep up, 3-0, and essentially salt the game away. About seven minutes later, Christian D’Angelo notched his first tally of the season to put the Hermits ahead 4-0.
Junior midfielder D.J. Mosley didn’t find his name in the scoresheet, but he had an outstanding game and gave the Ocean City (0-1, 0-1 CAL American) defense fits all afternoon with his ability to control the ball and make runs down the middle and on the left side.
“He’s a great player,” Clark said. “He’s very good on the ball and very good in front of the goal. I got a ball to him and he scored a perfect goal. He opens up a lot of options for us. Ocean City was man-marking me all day today. (The midfielders) can play the ball to my feet and I can just drop it back to them.”
St. Augustine Prep has a couple of CAL games the next two weeks before a big road game at Salesianum in Delaware.
“We know we can win. We know we can score and we know we can defend, so that’s a pretty good formula,” Clark said. “We wanted to see how we were going to defend against one of the best CAL teams year after year. Coach Bogie (Ocean City’s Aaron Bogushefsky) has a great side every year and we were able to dominate them, it felt nice.”
Added Davis, “it feels great knowing that what we’re working on in practice is transferring to the game. Our goal is to win the CAL, Coaches Cup and state championship. We set the bar high. Over the next month or so we just have to show up every day, that’s all you can do. It will come to us as long as we’re putting forth the effort and everyone is pulling in the same direction. Everybody has to be pulling for the win, and if we can do that, I think we can do some big things this year.”
WHAT’S NEXT: St. Augustine Prep hosts Millville on Thursday at 4 p.m. Ocean City hosts Vineland on Thursday at 4 p.m.
Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sullyglorydays@gmail.com.
