Posted on July 21, 2022 by Hunter Hulbert - Community

Kearny, along with towns such as Harrison, Elizabeth and Newark, helped build New Jersey’s reputation as a soccer hotbed. Photo courtesy of NJ Advance Media

The scene took Rob McCourt back to his childhood days: Hundreds of fans turned into thousands, packed in shoulder-to-shoulder, with night falling at Kearny High School on a chilly November night. Years ago, McCourt, the head coach of men’s soccer at Monmouth University, had played on the same field in front of countless soccer-crazy enthusiasts.  

And the state championship semifinal match between Elizabeth and Kearny at one of New Jersey’s greatest high school soccer venues lived up to the state’s legacy, too — an intense rivalry, two red cards and nail-biting drama, with penalty kicks deciding the winner.  

“I f the ‘Soccertown, USA’ movie had been made a few years later, that game definitely would’ve been a part of it,” McCourt said.  

The state championship semifinal match between Elizabeth and Kearny in November 2021 lived up to the state’s strong soccer legacy. Photo courtesy of NJ Advance Media

Kearny, along with towns such as Harrison, Elizabeth and Newark, helped build New Jersey’s reputation as a soccer hotbed in the 1970s and 1980s, producing soccer stars, like Tab Ramos, a Harrison and Kearny resident who played in three World Cups and was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005; Claudio Reyna, a Livingston native who was the captain of the U.S. national team and is now the sporting director of Austin FC; and Gregg Berhalter, a Englewood native and former player who is the head coach of the men’s national team.    

And that’s just scratching the surface.  

In the 1970s, soccer fever hit New Jersey hard, thanks mostly to the Cosmos, the marquee club of the North American Soccer League and a team of international superstars. With legends Pele, Giorgio Chinaglia and Franz Beckenbauer on the roster, the Cosmos routinely packed Giants Stadium with crowds surpassing 60,000.  

Today, New Jersey retains its reputation as a soccer hotbed, said Scott Aimetti, who starred at the Pingry School in Basking Ridge in the late 1980s before playing collegiately at Villanova University.  

“ New Jersey has an amazing reputation on the national level,” Aimetti said. “ The thing that sets New Jersey apart is the grit factor — the way New Jersey teams compete and the grit that they have. When everyone is equal technically, it takes that competitive nature, it takes the grit, it takes the fight that the New Jersey kid has. That’s the reputation that separates New Jersey from everybody else.”  

Tab Ramos, a Harrison and Kearny resident who played in three World Cups, was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. Photo courtesy of NJ Advance Media

In those North Jersey towns, soccer is still a way of life, even as other sports have grown in prominence. While growing up, McCourt and his friends played soccer on their way to school and during lunch, then raced to the playground after school to play some more.  

“ It’s a part of life in Kearny,” said Bill Galka, Kearny High’s longtime boys’ soccer coach. “It was a magical time being in Kearny and seeing all the great players before me. If you talk to my friends, their fathers played and their older brothers and sisters played. It’s a tradition in Kearny that gets passed along. The makeup of the town is different, but it’s still there and still strong. ”  

The list of prominent New Jersey high school teams, public and private, seems to grow each year. St. Benedict’s in Newark has been one of the top-ranked teams nationally over the past decade, while other private schools, like Delbarton in Morris Township, Seton Hall Prep in West Orange and Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, have earned national recognition. Kearny, West Orange and Clifton high schools have been premier teams, and Delran and Washington Township have helped South Jersey stand out.  

Meanwhile, New Jersey is still producing iconic players. Mason Toye, The Star-Ledger’s Player of the Year in 2016, is a striker for the Montreal Impact of Major League Soccer. Branden Aaronson, a Medford native, is a member of the U.S. men’s national team. Alex Borto left Gill St. Bernard’s in Gladstone after his sophomore year in 2019 to play for Fulham of the English Premier League in London.  

St. Benedict’s in Newark has been one of the top-ranked teams nationally over the past decade. Photo courtesy of NJ Advance Media

Dozens of New Jersey high school players move on to Division 1 college programs each season.  

“ In terms of developing elite college level players, New Jersey is still producing so many,” West Orange boys soccer coach Doug Nevins said. “New Jersey has always been a hotbed of soccer because of places, like Kearny, and people, like (former Columbia coach) Gene Chyzowych. They were ahead of the game. They had knowledge of the game that the rest of the country didn’t have.”  

Many of the high-profile high schools play schedules that include prominent out-of-state opponents, who discover there’s a reason New Jersey has a national reputation.  

“We play ACC schools, we play Big East schools,” McCourt said. “We’ve gone down and beaten North Carolina. We beat UConn in the NCAA Tournament. They know we’re well-coached, and we have a coaching staff here that are Jersey guys. Jersey players are kids with personality who aren’t afraid of the moment.”  

The melting pot of cultures in New Jersey has played a role in soccer’s growth. Scottish immigrants fueled Kearny’s soccer community in the ’70s and ’80s, and the game has an even more diverse makeup now.  

“ It’s still the same from when we grew up, it’s just different immigrants,” McCourt said. “The state tournament this year was probably as exciting as some of the state tournaments when we were in high school. When we played, for our state games, we probably had between 5,000 and 10,000 fans for every game. It was an absolutely crazy environment.”  

Haddonfield has joined Delran and Washington Township in helping South Jersey stand out in the soccer landscape of the state. Photo courtesy of NJ Advance Media

And that’s true in places all over the state: Soccer is a part of New Jersey’s sports DNA.  

“The soccer culture is getting better in the rest of the country because the MLS is improving, (but) our kids, they grow up in soccer homes, a lot of them,” Nevins said. “I’m really blessed in my town that we have kids from Central America, South America, the islands, Africa, Europe and American kids. All of them grow up in soccer homes. ”  

Added Domenick Raimo, who played at Delran in the early 2000s: “ There’s such a high knowledge of soccer here. New Jersey certainly still is a hotbed.”  

Brian Deakyne is a high school sports reporter who covers boys soccer, girls basketball and girls lacrosse across the state.

This article originally appeared in the Summer 2022 issue of Jersey’s Best. Subscribe here for in-depth access to everything that makes the Garden State great.

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