Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose-Lambertson video
Old Bridge Golf Club at Rose-Lambertson is New Jersey’s first new public golf course in more than a decade.
Central Jersey sports fans had plenty of options this past Friday and Saturday with several tournament championships on tap.
Here is a roundup of the action involving teams from the MyCentralJersey coverage area in cross country, field hockey, gymnastics, soccer and volleyball.
Click here to read about Rutgers Prep winning the Somerset County Tournament girls soccer title and here to read about Pingry winning another boys soccer SCT championship.
More: Greater Middlesex Conference hosts sportsmanship summit for fall athletes
More: How a former Bridgewater-Raritan long snapper landed a D-1 coaching job at Presbyterian
Cross Country
GMC Championships
Girls
The Metuchen girls showcased its talented depth by blazing to the Greater Middlesex Conference Championship with 50 points, well ahead of second-place East Brunswick’s 97 points and J.P. Stevens’ 99. Sayreville (133 points) and Old Bridge (142) rounded out the top five.
Gianna Hernandez captured the gold medal in 20:09.62. South Brunswick’s Shriya Peddi placed second (20:19.47) followed in the top five J.P. Stevens’ Grace Best (20:31.26), Sayreville’s Crystal Margotta (20:44.92) and Old Bridge’s Victoria Botte (20:59.57).
Metuchen piled on the team points with Lilly Kupersmit (21:37.40) placing in 10th followed by Maggie Rivera (21:39.23) and Kaitlyn Hseuh (21:42.91). Ella Anderson closed the team scoring with a 17th place finish (22:03.98).
Metuchen has won individual girls titles in three of the last four years. Hernandez, a junior, joins Caroline Schleif (2019) and Mary Malague (2021). (There was no race in 2020.) Metuchen’s Rachel Suss took gold in 2014 and 2015.
The Bulldogs, which placed second last season, earned GMC titles in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The program also captured Middlesex County titles in 1975, 1977 and 1980 before the GMC was formed.
Boys
The Falcons made history last season by winning the program’s first GMC title. Now, they’re adding to that lore.
Monroe repeated as GMC champions with 50 points to edge perennial power South Brunswick (54 points). Metuchen finished third with 105 followed by East Brunswick (129) and South Plainfield (174).
Falcon senior Maan Patel earned the gold medal in 16:27.40. Monroe’s Steve Roman won in 1996 and 1998 as the program’s other individual champion.
Senior teammate Matthew Lucas finished second (16:36) followed by Metuchen’s Alex Patelski (16:47.20), Highland Park’s Ernesto Botteon (16:58.80) and South Brunswick’s Akul Laddha (17:03.60) to round out the top five.
Monroe’s other scorers were James Giordano (12th, 17:21.60), Stephen Barbera (13th, 17:26.80) and Ryan Daunais (22nd, 18:06.70).
Field Hockey
GMCT Final
East Brunswick 2, South Plainfield 0
The championship banner is getting more crowded for the East Brunswick field hockey team. The top-seeded Bears captured their third-straight Greater Middlesex Conference Tournament title with the shutout over second-seeded South Plainfield.
Yana Popova opened the scoring in the second quarter off a feed from Samantha Arnold with 9:37 left. Arnold put in an insurance goal with 8:12 left in the third quarter from an Ashlee Moss assist. Kayla Balsamo recorded two saves in the win.
The Bears (15-1) had beaten the Tigers (14-4) twice in the regular season. EB advanced to the finals with a 4-1 win over No. 4 Metuchen in the semifinals and a 7-0 win over eighth-seeded North Plainfield in the quarterfinals.
In 2021, East Brunswick topped South Plainfield 3-1 for its first GMCT championship since 2011. EB beat Old Bridge 4-0 to win the title last season.
SCT
Ridge 4, Pingry 2
Sana Halthore and Jenna Narleski produced as underclassmen when Ridge won the Somerset County Tournament in 2021. Now, they’ve the leading scorers and the Red Devils are still winning.
Ridge (12-5) won its third-straight SCT title with Saturday’s win over No. 2 Pingry (13-3).
Halthore scored two goals and the senior now has 13 goals and six assists for the season. Narleski, a junior, had an assist and leads the team with 17 goals and 16 assists.
Caroline Bailey (assist) and Catalina Pravda each added a goal in the win. Ridge led 2-1 at halftime and opened its lead with a 2-0 edge in the third quarter.
McKenna Dwyer and Morgan Dwyer each scored for the Big Blue.
Gymnastics
GMC Championships
St. Thomas Aquinas returned just about everybody after winning last year’s Greater Middlesex Conference Championship.
Saturday, that talent and depth was on display as the Trojans repeated as GMC champions by edging second-place East Brunswick with a score of 110.85 to 105.25. Old Bridge finished third (98.575).
Supriyha Moore earned first places in the vault (9.675) and floor (9.6). Teammate Nina Sanguiliano repeated as the gold medalist in the bars. Moore, a sophomore, placed fourth in the all-around, in between the Trojans’ Allie Pompliano (third place) and Olivia Donato (fifth).
East Brunswick senior Sasha Marcinczyk claimed the all-around gold medal with a 37.1 with top-three finishes in the bars, floor and vault. Edison’s Emili Horike took second in the all-around.
Soccer
H/W/S Tournament final
Boys
Hunterdon Central 8, North Hunterdon 1
The goals just kept on coming for the Red Devils. Top-seeded Hunterdon Central topped third-seeded North Hunterdon 8-1 to win its fourth-consecutive Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament title.
Thomas Shreiber recorded a hat trick with an assist as Hunterdon Central (13-2) led 3-0 at halftime and broke it open in the second half at host Voorhees.
Zach Perron and Tyler Rodriguez (assist) added two goals apiece and Simon Failla chipped in a goal and an assist in the win. Matt Davis assisted on two goals and Michael Catanzarite and Vance Longo had an assist apiece. Sam Freed recorded two saves in the win.
Hunterdon Central has won six straight games on the eve of the NJSIAA playoffs. The Red Devils marched to the H/W/S trophy with a 4-0 win over No. 8 Newton in the quarterfinals and a 2-0 win over No. 4 Voorhees.
North Hunterdon (11-2-2) advanced to the final with a 2-1 upset over second-seeded Hackettstown in the semifinals, a 5-3 win over No. 6 High Point in the quarters and a 3-2 victory against No. 15 Pope John in the second round.
Saturday, Daniel Sameiro scored for the Lions, while Justin Crismale recorded 10 saves and Thomas Flynn had four saves.
Girls
Sparta 2, Hunterdon Central 0
It was Round 2.
Last season, Hunterdon Central topped Sparta 1-0 in the H/W/S final.
Saturday, Sparta prevailed over the Red Devils to claim the program’s first-ever H/W/S title. (Sparta was the top seed and HC was seeded second in both seasons.)
Juliana Dolinski scored twice for the host Spartans (11-2) nearly 80 minutes apart. The senior found the net off a scramble three minutes in. She sealed the win with a goal with 42 seconds left.
Sophomore goalkeeper Riley Molbury was named the tournament’s MVP.
Hunterdon Central (11-3-2) advanced to the final by topping third-seeded North Hunterdon 2-1 in the semifinals and beating seventh-seeded Delaware Valley 4-0 in the quarters.
Volleyball
UCT
Westfield 2, Union Catholic 0
Westfield captured its second-straight Union County Tournament title with a win over Union Catholic at Kean on Friday in a rematch of last year’s finale.
The top-seeded Blue Devils (16-4) won 25-17, 25-21 over the second-seeded Vikings (18-5).
Westfield, the defending Group 4 champions, are in the midst of a six-game winning streak.
Caitlin Cabrales had five kills, five digs, two aces and 11 points, while Olivia Calandra had four kills, seven digs, eight assists and an ace.
Chloe Wiedman chipped in a team-high 12 digs, seven service points, two aces and two assists.
Also contributing to the win were Genevieve Gauthier (4 digs, 6 assists, Abbigail Pevzner (3 kills, 4 digs), Ava Gaspard (3 kills, 2 blocks), Karolina Bonn (2 kills), Keira Deignan (2 blocks, 1 dig) and Giuliana Gallo (3 digs).
H/W/S
Sparta 2, Hunterdon Central 0
The seeds held in the Hunterdon/Warren/Sussex Tournament.
Top-seeded Sparta won its first title with a 25-20, 26-24 win over second-seeded Hunterdon Central on Saturday.
The Red Devils (20-5) were 14-1 in its last 15 matches entering the final. Sparta improved to 21-1.