(Central New Jersey) Saturday, June 1, 2024—Real Central NJ (RCNJ) lost to Reading United AC (RU) at Alvernia University, 2-1, in their fourth game of the season and second consecutive loss. RCNJ had a promising start early but could not close the game.
“It’s a rough loss,” said Coach Brian Woods. “The last two games have been extremely difficult, but we’ve had some opportunities we didn’t capitalize on or didn’t execute as well as we’d like to, and we ended up losing a match we felt we were in a good position to win. But we definitely showed ourselves very well, and I was happy about that.”
GOAL SCORING RUNDOWN
RCNJ﹘Justin Brunow (Hugo Cakurda) 43rd minute: Hugo Cakurda found Justin Brunow in the middle of the box off a nice through ball that was tapped into the back of the net. RU 0, RCNJ 1
RU﹘63rd minute: Following a missed clearance, the ball was knocked around the box and inevitably past the keeper. RU 1, RCNJ 1
RU - 82nd minute: After being awarded a free-kick, the taker ripped a shot to the top corner that beat the RCNJ keeper. RU 2, RCNJ 1
The player of the match was defender Martin Chladek.
After starting out slow, with both teams feeling each other out early on, the game’s first attempt at goal came from a Reading United attack early on in the eleventh minute. The shot was an attempt at the far post that went high of the net.
They quickly returned with another shot in the fourteenth minute off a low shot saved by RCNJ keeper Eddie DeMarco.
Real Central NJ got their first chance in the eighteenth minute. The look came from a looping ball from the back line that met Justin Brunow's foot. He controlled the pass, took a touch a bit farther into the box, and sent a shot wide of the goal.
As RCNJ got acquainted with the Reading United backline, their opportunities became more threatening. In the twenty-fifth minute, Hugo Cakurda and Curt Calov connected on an excellent series of passes, ending in a Calov shot from the middle of the box, barely saved by Reading’s keeper.
Reading United did not back off, though. In the twenty-eighth minute, they had a nice opportunity from a sneaky through ball into the box, but the shot was sent high.
Again, in the thirty-fourth, they had another shot off a couple of slick moves inside the box. The shot slipped past DeMarco and looked like trouble, but an RCNJ defender was able to make a sliding clear before it could pass over the goal line.
However, RCNJ was able to strike first. The game's first goal came in the forty-third minute and resulted from a beautiful link-up from Curt Calov to Hugo Cakurda and across the box to Justin Brunow for a tap-in to the bottom right of the goal, just under the keeper. RU 0, RCNJ 1
Reading came out of halftime attacking aggressively, and after some back-and-forth, they were able to find an opportunity in the fifty-second minute. The shot came from a look outside of the eighteen-yard box and found Lukas Burn’s hands for a save.
After being awarded a free-kick in the fifty-sixth minute, Reading took a shot at the bottom left corner, but Burns easily saved it.
Not long after, in the fifty-ninth minute, the RCNJ men were awarded a free-kick of their own. Curt Calov took a shot on goal that was placed brilliantly toward the right post, but Reading’s keeper made a great diving save to prevent another goal.
In the sixty-third minute, Reading United got a goal of their own to tie the game at 1-1. Following a missed clearance in the box by RCNJ, the attacking team scrambled for the ball, knocking it around until it inevitably made its way past Burns for their equalizing goal. RU 1, RCNJ 1
After a hard-fought twenty minutes, Reading was able to take the lead in the eighty-second minute. The go-ahead goal was scored on a free-kick just outside the penalty box. RU 2, RCNJ 1
It looked like RCNJ was going to be able to get the goal back in the eighty-fourth off a quality attack from the Real Central NJ front, but Justin Brunow’s low-driven shot was saved by the Reading keeper.
The four minutes of added stoppage time was not enough for RCNJ’s men to fight back and get the draw.
“The fortunate thing is we get some key players back this week from injury,” added Woods. "We were missing (Stephen) Duncan, that was a huge loss; we were missing Stas (Korzeniowski), another huge loss; missing Josh Oladele, we haven’t had him for a few matches. I think we’ll get those three guys for Wednesday's match, which will be a pick-me-up that we most desperately need.
Coach Woods was also excited to announce that the men would be without Curt Calov for a few games due to a trial with the MLS’s Chicago Fire FC.
Both the men’s and women’s sides play in an away doubleheader on Tuesday, June 4th. The men will face off against West Chester United at YSC Sports at 7 PM, and the women will play the Delaware Ospreys at Wilmington’s Abessinio Stadium at 7 PM. You can tune into the live streams on RCNJ’s website.
The next home match will be a men’s USL2 match against Lehigh Valley United on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, at Rider University’s Ben Cohen Field. Purchase Match-day tickets and season passes on the Real Central NJ Soccer website.
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