All-Shore Teams
The All Shore Media All-Shore teams and all the postseason awards, features, etc. will be posted by Wednesday morning and we’ll have a live chat about it next week, probably on Monday. In the meantime, feel free to post any questions, concerns or criticisms on the comment section of this post. The teams were as difficult as ever to pick, so I’m sure they’ll be some issues to discuss. I also got a lot most of the coaches’ all-division selections, so I’ll be sure to post those as well. There will be a lot of stuff posted to the website, so if you don’t see it at first glance, just keep looking.
Manley's Blog 
although i certainly like your picks, be prepared for people to complain about such a cba-heavy (and a north, for that matter) first team. i still find it hard to argue against all the colts (and mustangs and patriots) that made it, but the cba hating is inevitable, as always.
I’m ready for the debate, but I will say there were some players I had a lot of trouble leaving off of the first team as well as third team. Should be a lively discussion to say the least.
Personally I think the picks were right on the money! The 3 teams have alot of players not from A North so showcases all the Divisions Top players!
As always there are a lot of A-North names, but that is where the best soccer is played. I know you’ll probably get into forecasting next year in the next few weeks like you did at the APP, but here’s a question for you Matt. Which A-North core do you like best for next season…
CBA – Thomsen (M-if he comes back), Thorsheim (M), Dillaway (GK)
Marl – Weisberger (M), Katz (M), Battaglia (F)
FT – Horan (GK), Jeffery (M), Holliday (D)
How – Onder (F), Hill (F), Dougher (M)
Obviously the Thomsen question is huge and program depth will play a big role, especially at Marlboro and FT, but those are some impressive names coming back that maybe didn’t get the recognition this year. Throw in CN, TRS, Holmdel, TRE and we might have our top 8 going into next season.
The question about A-North next year is tough. I know we all said it last year about how talented the division was, but this may have been the best three year stretch of talent (going back to the GQ and KB year) the division (and the conference) has ever seen. If Thomsen leaves, A-North may be as wide open as ever next season, opening the door for the Middletowns and Manalapan to right the ship.
It is easy to look at CBA and say they just “reload”, but losing 7 starters, especially those 7 starters (Grags, Sugar, Beatty, Kratchie, Asoli, Nickerson, Romano) might be an even bigger hit than FT took losing the 6 they did after last season (not even factoring in the Thomsen question or Brennan). Hypothetically they might lose 9 of the 11 field players that regularly saw the field, and at a minimum lose 8.
Yes, Howell only loses one starter, but he was clearly their most important player and other than the FT wins it is hard to argue that the team showed much this year. Throw in the fact that they have a question mark in the goal and they may be playing a lot of high scoring games next year, not typically a recipe for success. With all those offensive pieces, it will be interesting if Coach Yuro tries to turn someone into a sweeper.
Marlboro was obviously senior laden and Belanger/Amato were so important to them, but along with Thomsen (maybe), Weisberger will be one of the top players in the conference, and my guess is he will be the latest high profile sweeper in the Marlboro system. Other than that, I think Santos and the program get the benefit of the doubt, similar to Gillen at TRE and the next team I am going to talk about.
Last season FT graduated the best senior class in school history, this year they might be graduating the second best. With that said, no one will match up physically with Jeffery next year and they still have Horan, maybe the biggest advantage any team in the division has going into next season.
1. CBA
2. FT
3. Marlboro
4. Howell
With or without Thomsen that’s the order I would put them in, and the other three schools are going to need to show us something before getting in the discussion.
a central all divison was a little questionable. really like holmdel?
Is all-Shore about best Individual players or the teams they play for?
john, it’s pretty hard to argue the picks that matt made. i’d like to see you name some players that are individually better than the players on matt’s all-shore team. they are the best of the best, and it is fairly obvious that most of the genuine talent in the conference is clustered on a few great teams.
for the record, team success and division rigor SHOULD be factored into the selections. you can’t really argue that a north is not the best division in the shore and that the a north and toms river teams are not the class of the conference. the selections not from those teams, drake and langan, come from a central, which is easily one of the top three divisions in the conference.
who exactly do you have in mind that is/are better than the 13 players that matt picked?
Ok Howell Rebel- Are you telling me that you have seen all these players play? I have seen these players outplay the players your talking about on their club teams. I asked a simple question- no need to be rude
Jacob Rubinstein
James Walsh
Ian Whalen
Jon Franklin
Chris Sverapa
Taylor Scarpino
Matt Capasso
Steve Kahle
Bobby Garifine
Matt Melton
Greg Augustino
David Castano
Dylan Marx
Luke Bush
first and foremost, i was not rude at all. your ‘simple question’ was quite obviously sarcastic.
second, you really made my point for me. you have seen them outplay the all-shore players ‘on their club teams.’ i told you to name 13 players, thinking that you would consider that we are talking all-shore and not about individual talent. the whole purpose of these teams is to determine who were the ‘all stars’ of the high school season.
third, i have seen the majority of them play and really wouldn’t legitimately consider any of them for ALL-SHORE . you really cannot be serious if you consider that the all-shore team. i actually do think a few of them are better players than the ones matt chose, but again, consider the exact accolade about which we are talking.
last, notice that i am not bitter about none of my rebels being selected for the team. your first comment shows that you are obviously upset about a certain player or players from a particular team. if that is so, why don’t you just share, in specifics, who you feel should be left off from matt’s team and who you feel should take their place?
Season is over. let the kids enjoy their awards.
Not trying to be sarcastic-Sorry if you took it that way
Matt gave a great answer about why he selected the players he did during the live chat and I cant disagree with his choices.