Columbia HS boys soccer team looks to keep growing this season

MAPLEWOOD, NJ – The Columbia High School boys soccer team returns a strong returning group, which bodes well for a successful season this fall.

Columbia, under head coach Josh Russotto, was scheduled to begin the season Sept. 4 at Nutley in a Super Essex Conference-Liberty Division game.

The Cougars are looking to improve on last year’s four-win campaign.

The key returning players are senior defender Daniel Teitalbaum, senior goalkeeper Max Crosby, sophomore midfielder Charlie Herley, junior midfielder Ben Christmann and junior defender Cameron Ripley.

The newcomers to watch include senior defender Ori Ben-Ari, sophomore midfielder/forward Jack Sperduto, junior midfielder/forward Juff Exilus and junior midfielders James Griffis and Robbie Boyd.

The defense will be led by Ripley, Teitalbaum, Clarence Jones and Ramiro Green. The returning starters in the midfield are Christmann and Herley. Crosby will likely be the starting goalie.

“We’ve got some very talented and dedicated individuals who have continued to demonstrate growth and improvement year to year, which is very exciting,” said CHS assistant coach Ryan Muirhead. “There’s a lot of depth on this team, so we’re hoping that we will see a lot of different guys contributing all season long.”

Columbia will look to contend for the divisional title and return to the Essex County Tournament quarterfinals for the second consecutive year. The Cougars also hope to make a deep run in the state tournament.

To achieve those goals, the Cougars will look for the new and returning starters to gel and develop together.

“Last year we played a lot of one-goal games and didn’t have a great record in those games,” Muirhead said. “If we can turn that around this season, we’ll have a good shot at challenging those goals.”

Following the season opener, the Cougars will host Verona in their home opener Sept. 6 at 7 p.m. at Underhill Field.

CHS also will host both Carteret on Sept. 9 and West Orange on Sept. 11, each at CHS’ Ritzer Field at 4 p.m.