New coach, but a familiar face, leads Vikings
BY GEORGE ALBANO
Staff Writer

FARRAH MAFFAI staff South Brunswick’s Tewedros Polk battles with Piscataway’s Ray Sales for the ball during the Vikings’ home game on Friday.

Chris Hayston may be the first-year head coach of the South Brunswick High School boys soccer team, but it sure seems like he’s been around a lot longer.

The truth is, he has.

Hayston once played soccer at Monroe High, and even before that he could often be found at East Brunswick High games where his father, Dan Hayston, has coached the boys soccer team for the past two decades.

The younger Hayston is no stranger to the South Brunswick soccer program, either, having served as the freshman coach the previous three years. But when Mark Ziminski decided to step down as head coach after last season to concentrate solely on coaching lacrosse, Hayston was the perfect choice to replace him.

"We have a great relationship and we still talk regularly," Hayston said of Ziminski. "He’s probably my biggest fan."

Hayston inherited a Vikings team which went 15-5 a year ago, won the Greater Middlesex Conference Red Division title, and went on to capture the Central Jersey Group IV state sectional championship.

"But only five starters are back from that team so we certainly had to reload this year," Hayston said. "We’ve had a number of players come up from the JV and freshman teams who are doing a nice job and have established themselves as varsity players."

In fact, every one of those players already played for Hayston at one time on the freshman level.

"There isn’t a kid in the whole program I didn’t coach," he said.

Besides the five returning starters, four more players who saw extensive playing time a year ago are also back. Those nine letter-winners helped South Brunswick get off to a 4-1 start this fall.

But the Vikings have lost four straight games since then to fall to 4-5, as many losses as they had all of last season.

"We’ve kind of hit the skids a little," Hayston admitted. "We’ve had some ups-and-downs, but the kids are getting through it and learning from each game. We’re getting better with each game and hopefully we can get back on track Friday."

That’s when South Brunswick, Hayston’s new team, meets his old team, Monroe, at 3:45 p.m. at SBHS.

"A lot of people who were there when I played are gone now," Hayston said.

"But there are still some people over there who did a lot for me so it will be special."

Almost as special as last Monday when the Vikings played East Brunswick and Hayston went up against his father for the first time, a game the Bears eventually won 3-1.

"It was interesting," Chris Hayston said. "It was one of those things where it was hard for me to get the competitive fires going. That was my father over there, not the opposing coach. It was easy for everybody else, but for me it was hard."

The Vikings are led by senior co-captains John Ferrer at center midfield and Nader Owies at outside midfield. Another senior who started last year is stopper Nana Anpim, while a pair of juniors, defender Tim Boyd and forward Coron Short, round out the five returning starters.

Meanwhile, seniors John DeSouza and Chris Ward, who both came off the varsity bench last season, start this season at outside midfield. Two more starters who saw plenty of action in 2002 are juniors Jilmar Perez at center midfield and forward Jay Shilling.

Rounding out the starting lineup is junior goalkeeper Nat Hart, one of those players who moved up from the junior varsity and, according to Hayston, "has looked very good so far," and forward Mike Sexton, a first-year senior who’s been one of this season’s more pleasant surprises so far. Sexton’s four goals tie him with Short and Perez for the team lead.

Two more players who moved up to the varsity and have been contributing are sophomore Anthony Vaverka, a member of the freshman team last year, and junior Anthony Rettino, up from the JV. Both are backs who Hayston rotates into the lineup and sometimes starts.

The pieces are starting to mesh, and with still a lot of season left, the Vikings have their sights set on another winning season, and then some.

"Our first goal is to obviously make the state tournament and then take it from there," Hayston said. "The cutoff date for states is Oct. 23, and we need four more wins to make it. I would like to think we can do that."