The Men and Lady Centurion soccer teams are headed for the first time in the same season ever. It is a bigger deal for the Lady Centurions, who have clinched a playoff berth for the first time in the team’s three year existence.

THE WOMEN’S TEAM

The Women’s team (7-1) clinched their playoff berth back on Oct. 6 in a hard-fought victory over the Raritan Valley Golden Lions.

The women’s team started out in 2008 as a club team, meaning they could not compete for national titles and such, but then branched off in 2009 to become a regular women’s team that were poised to shake lose those limitations.

Coach Justin Burroughs coached the club team in the first year until 2009 when a former player, Brett Pierson from Burroughs 2005, squad took over the coaching duties.

“I was lucky enough to convince him to come back and take over the women’s program,” Burroughs said.

Pierson is in his 3rd year of coaching the women’s team and seems optimistic about his team’s playoff chances.

“I am happy with how the team has played this year and there is no reason we can’t make a run to win the title,” Pierson said. ‘I have a team this year with very good talent…a strong defense and key players who have been finishing in on goal.”

A few key players to watch on this team are defender Sam Kilpatrick, mid-fielder Cait Kelley, striker Jessica Williams, and goalie Morgan D’Apolito.

Kilpatrick is the team’s captain and lockdown defender that has kept opposing team’s offenses at bay. Kilpatrick, who is affectingly known as “Dash,” for her speed helps her coach keep the team in line.

“I believe in positive, constructive criticism,” said Kilpatrick. “I tell the team where we have room for improvement, not just picking out one player and telling them they did something wrong.”

First year player Kelley has good touch on the ball and is essentially the distributor on the team. Her keys to the team’s success are their possession and crisp passing. She feels that her personal success comes from being “confident, but not overly cocky.

Williams is among the league leaders in scoring and established herself as a leader.

D’Apolitio is the starting goalkeeper that has two shutouts and has only allowed more than one goal twice in nine games.

“I didn’t even know there was a team, so I am playing in my first year here despite being a sophomore,” D’Apolitio said. “We’ve really been maintaining a lot of the (ball) possession, with very good finishing.”

Pierson knows his team’s future is bright, but said that the playoff picture is still cloudy.

“I do not know yet who we will play, however, if we do finish in second we will have a bye the first round which will leave us with the task of only having to win two matches instead of three. So I like the position we are in,” said Pierson.

“If we improve or hold the second spot which we currently have now, we will gain home field advantage for the semi-final and the final is being held at ocean county community college this season.’

THE MEN’S TEAM

The Men’s team (7-1-2) entered the season with a chip on their shoulder because of missing the playoffs by one game last year. The Men’s team clinched their playoff spot on Oct. 4 in a 4-0 beat down on Delaware.

Last year proved to be frustrating for Burroughs as he dealt with a rash of injuries and some unfortunate bounces that kept his 2011 squad home during the playoffs, but notes that this season has been the reverse.

“It’s definitely satisfying; our first goal every year is to make the playoffs so it was more disappointing last year when we did not make it. This year I am expecting a little more than just make the playoffs this year I am expecting to make some noise,” said Burroughs.

The turning point for the Centurions came in the middle of the season when they returned home from a brutal six game road trip. Once they got a break they went on a winning streak that has propelled them into the playoffs.

After the season last year Burroughs received insult to injury in a sense by losing his leading scorer in Dan Foley, starting goaltender in Damon Custer, and a good player in Brandon Milan. Burroughs has taken it in stride though as he confesses that this year’s team has been a team effort.

“Everybody has really stepped up this year; this group has really bonded pretty quickly. They became focused and everyone has filled in roles and stepped up when they have needed to so we have a good identity,” said Burroughs.

“This year has been very happy even though we missed our starting goalkeeper for a couple games, someone else stepped in, and different people have scored at different times so we are not depending on one guy to score. People on defense have also stepped up without complaining.”

A major strength of the team has been the goaltending that lead the league in shutouts with seven. Starting goalie Mike Klimonotz is the leading goaltender in the nation in shuts and is tenth in save percentage and fourth in saves.

“He is doing a great job with the help of our defense,” said Burroughs. “We have had numerous guys fill in back there so they have had all contributed.”

Klimonotz’s teammate Kevin Hilton is no slouch himself as he has two shutouts and ranks in the nation. This playoff berth is extra special for Hilton, who said, “I think it’s awesome because I have never been to the playoffs in high school or college, except as a bench player.”

Ball possession was another thing that Burroughs keyed in on as one of the team’s strengths.

“Our ball possession has just been excellent, if you have the ball longer than the other team than chances are you are going to win and we are so it’s showing.”

Burroughs revealed that the success year is not by chance, but hopefully a sign of things to come.

“We are here to prove ourselves every single year so that we do not just have a good team for one season, but we want to be known as a good program. Some teams make the playoffs and their happy about it, but if they don’t make for three or four years then they are gonna be known as fluke,” Burroughs said.

“It helps our recruiting and it helps our players get recruited so the colleges that do recruit them know what kind of players they are getting. The four year schools know our players will be disciplined and that the references they get from us will be legit and they will be able to come in and contribute right away.”

The Women’s team will played against Bergen County College, but the paper came out before the game was played. The Men’s team is going to play against Ocean County College today

at 3p.m.