EWR --°F NJ Lottery 3 4 5 NJ Lottery Sad? Dial 988
Close Menu
    Trending
    Tuesday, March 10
    Uncategorized

    Robbinsville falls in OT heartbreaker to Madison – Trentonian

    jay.trebleBy No Comments10 Mins Read
    Robbinsville falls in OT heartbreaker to Madison – Trentonian

    SOMERSET — For four years, Max Goldberg was part of a Robbinsville varsity boys’ soccer team that not only won at least 17 games a season, but also reached an NJSIAA State Final in three of those seasons.

    Place your ad here (700×100)

    “It’s crazy to think about,” Goldberg, the oldest of two brothers on head coach Jeff Fisher’s 2025 team, said Saturday after the Ravens played in the NJSIAA Group II State Final at Franklin High. “It’s been a helluva ride.”

    He and his teammates, however, were hoping for a better outcome than the sudden disappointment that came with a 4-3 overtime loss to Madison after R’ville had built a two-goal lead in the first 13:48 of the game.

    It was the 20-1-2 Dodgers first state title since 1996. It was their fourth in school history. They have never lost in a state title game.

    The Ravens’ season came to a close after a 17-8-1 campaign that began 3-6 in September.

    “In the moment, it’s hard,” Fisher said right after Jake Witte scored off a pass from his classmate Gui Dos Santos 1:34 into OT to spoil Goldberg and Robbinsville’s quest. “But when we all take time to look back on it, we’ll know how truly proud I am of this team for fighting back from a 3-6 start to get here and go up, 2-0.”

    “After the last three seasons, I did think we could have done what we did this year, even after the tough start,” Goldberg said.

    1 of 30

    Robbinsville’s Max Goldberg, center, celebrates after scoring a penalty kick against Maidson during the Group II boys soccer final on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025 at Franklin High in Somerset. (Kyle Franko/ Trentonian Photo)

    Expand

    Max had reason for his confidence. The senior midfielder who has played just about everywhere on the field for the Ravens poked a pass from junior Chris Lewis across the goal line 2:30 into the game to put R’ville up against Madison, one of the state’s Top 10.

    The Dodgers, who only allowed 16 goals this fall and had not trailed often this season, then saw the hole increase when Lewis scored off a pass from senior Nico Mathews with 26:12 left in the first half.

    But when Dos Santos found classmate Andrew Haviland with a corner kick that cut the lead in half 3:40 before intermission, the momentum changed.

    A midfield free kick from Brazilian native Dos Santos 6:33 into the second half was headed home by senior Nolan Keane to tie the game, then, nearly 10 minutes later, Haviland headed home another corner kick from Dos Santos to give head coach Richard Vasquez’ Madison squad a 3-2 advantage.

    “As they came back on us, we tried to keep our heads straight,” Goldberg said. “When we tied it, I was still confident that we were going to go at them the way we did. We were right there knocking on the door.”

    Goldberg gave his teammates that chance when he made good on a penalty kick with 16:52 left to knot the score at 3-3 after Mathews was taken down in the box. It was his ninth goal this season.

    Two minutes after that, Max’s younger brother Noah, a sophomore, came close to breaking the tie, only to see Dodgers’ 6-foot-3 senior goalkeeper Cal Regan make a low save.

    In the final two minutes of regulation, senior Henry Honeywood had two quality chances also stopped by Regan (eight saves) from in close.

    “In the second half, we came fighting back to make a game of it, but their ’keeper made some really big saves,” Fisher said.

    Despite seven saves from Ravens senior goalkeeper Alex Rusk, Robbinsville saw its wish of a second state crown fly away shortly after the first 10 minutes of overtime began when Dos Santos centered an endline pass to Witte, who got past a defender to connect on the winning tally.

    “Earlier in the game, every time I would go forward, they would mark me, so that time I stayed back a bit,” Witte said. “This was a dream of mine. I’ve always wanted to win a state title and score the winning goal.”

    Max Goldberg felt that elation when he was a freshman and the Ravens took a penalty-kick shootout from West Morris Mendham to claim the Group III trophy. In 2023 and this year, he and R’ville also got that opportunity, but saw each come up a goal short – 2-1 versus Garfield in Group III two seasons ago, then 4-3 in OT yesterday.

    But as Goldberg and his teammates will soon realize, no one else from the Colonial Valley Conference or rest of the state had a chance like that over the last four years, which is something of which they can forever be proud.

    Madison (20-1-2)               1    2    1    —    4

    Robbinsville(17-8-1)           2   1    0    —    3

    Goals: Haviland 2, Keane, Witte (M), MGoldberg 2, Lewis (R); Assists: Dos Santos 4 (M), Lewis, Mathews 2 (R).

    Shots: 13 (M), 12 (R); Saves: Regan 8 (M), Rusk 7 (R).

    Share.

    Related Posts

    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply

    Popular

    Trending News

    Useful links

    avnet All Rights Reserved 2025 designed by web