New-Look Varsity Soccer Enjoys Winning Season
Varsity soccer team captains Zachary B. ’20 and George N. ’20 embrace in celebration of their victory against The Masters School, Sep. 27, 2019. (Andrew West ’92)
With time slowly running out, the Varsity Soccer Panthers were down 1-0 against The Masters School, and it seemed that they would suffer a loss. However, after two quick counter attacks, they scored two goals and pulled off the win.
“Masters is usually a team that we do not play very well against, especially at their home field” team co-captain Zachary B. ’20 said. “Even with many of their fans coming out to support them, we never lost faith, and once we had the lead, we fought hard to maintain it.”
After winning no games last year, the team opened with a dominant 6-1 victory against LREI and attempted to maintain their success throughout the season. They improved to a 5-3- 3 regular-season record and barely missed the NYCAL playoffs.
Coach David Watson identified one of the biggest challenges the team overcame this year was their mental approach.
“If you go through a losing streak, as we have for the past couple of years, you automatically think that you are not going to do well,” Coach Watson said. “So I had to instill in them that they were good enough to win.”
By building the confidence of his players and helping them realize how skilled they were as a group, Coach Watson believed that they were capable of competing with high-profile teams. He credited his squad for its level of play against the eventual NYCAL champions, Lycée Français, whom they typically struggle against.
Though the Panthers lost that match 2-1 in what Coach Watson called “atrocious conditions,” he believed that the players outplayed their opponents and could have won the game if “they took their chances.”
The team welcomed many new members this year, including a wide variety of freshmen. Although these players did not lack the skills necessary for varsity, they faced the challenge of getting “knocked around” by their opponents who may have been physically bigger than them.
At the beginning of the season, Coach Watson wondered how the newcomers would fit in with returning players.
“The team was very welcoming to me,” Jasper S.M. ’22 said. “The older players established a friendly environment and made me feel like part of the team.”
Even though the team was a young squad, they still possessed a deep knowledge of the game, which helped in increasing team energy.
“Not only was this team far more technically skilled,” Zachary said, “but we also ended up beating and tying teams that we haven’t in the past because we were more motivated to win, which lead us to practice harder and push ourselves as much as possible.”
Since his players possessed a wide range of skills, Coach Watson was able to employ different strategies throughout the course of the season. The team was able to play the ball well on the ground, making the most of the players’ excellent passing skills and superior ball control, and their fast, athletic forwards could also chase the ball and outrun their defenders when necessary, effectively playing the ball over the top.
Coach Watson accredited one of their main reasons for success to Zachary’s goalkeeping abilities.
“Without him in goal, we would not have done as well,” Coach Watson said. “He saved us on a number of occasions when we were either leading or tied and would save shots from close range with tremendous reactions.”
Overall, there were many positives to the season; the team finished with a winning percentage above .500 and stunned teams that they were not expected to perform well against. However, they are looking to build off upon this success for the upcoming season and take their chances for the NYCAL championship.
“The results of this year showed us the importance of not giving up and being more resilient,” Sam L. ’21 said. “We are going to have to replace the seniors that we will lose, but everyone realizes how they will have to step up for the upcoming season for us to achieve our desired goals.”
