Rebuilding: Success in spite of challenges
Despite a smaller and younger group, the men’s soccer team is looking to make it to the playoffs.
They spent much of their time at the beginning of the season working on becoming a more cohesive team. With lots of new incoming freshman and first-year varsity players, it was crucial to build chemistry.
Samuel Greene, a senior on the team, said, “the beginning of the year was kind of rough, we were not super organized.”
Sutter noted that the team had lost 16 seniors and was much younger than last year, but said, “there’s a lot of talent and we’re starting to figure out how to play together.”
Some of the top players to look out for this year are Brian Carmona-Zepeda (11), Miguel Torres Anserez (10), and Finn Quinn (12).
With a record of 1-7-1, the program may not seem poised to be a playoff contender; however, head coach Jeremy Sutter notes that “the PIL tends to be the toughest league in soccer in the state.”
The competition is stiff, and even with their current record, there’s a good chance the team could make it to the playoffs.
“We’re always kinda fighting to get as many points as we can in the pre-season and squeak into a playoff spot,” Sutter explained.
Even the chance to compete at state again is exciting.
Sophomore player Emilio Montiel said that to make it to playoffs, “we gotta work on our chemistry” and “we need to start scoring goals.” The team has scored only three goals this year compared to the 18 scored on them.
Sutter agreed.
“The biggest thing we need to figure out is how to get some productivity out of our offense… the most goals we’ve scored in a game is one,” Sutter said.
Lane is a senior, and he is passionate about wrestling, transit access and oxford commas. People describe him as intense, driven and hungry. He likes being a journalist because he can shed light on controversial issues and bring the voices of marginalized communities into the spotlight.