Perhaps the Summit High School boys soccer team is on the brink of something special.
The Hilltoppers fell to Cranford 2-0 Tuesday afternoon at Tatlock field, but there was much for coach Rob Grella to be pleased. Summit, which dropped to 6-5, played a very strong game against an unbeaten club that it might see again in the Union County Tournament, which starts this week.
In fact, if No. 9 seed Summit beats No. 8 seed Elizabeth Thursday in a county tournament game, the Hilltoppers would play at Cranford in the quarterfinal round. Last year, Elizabeth beat Summit 1-0 for the county championship.
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Cranford improved to 10-0.
"I'd love to knock them (Elizabeth) off because we think we can; I'd love to get another shot at Cranford,'' Grella said.
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Summit really tested Cranford goalie Scott Boyer with several shots. Clayton Johnson, Luke Shehata and leading scorer Justin Cyrus among the players. Cyrus actually had a wide open net to shoot at in the first period when Cranford held a 1-0 lead, but defender Patrick Kaskiw swooped in to kick the ball out.
count,'' said Grella. ""I don't want to say they (Cranford) controlled the match. They
had three or four shots on goal and got two goals. We had some good shots, some good
opportunites. We just didn't finish. We're a young team.''
""It was rough that we lost 2-0, but we played decent,'' Cyrus said. ""We're looking
a lot better than we have in the last couple of weeks.''
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