The boys soccer team currently has 3 wins, 4 losses, and 1 draw. Despite having a young team with few seniors, they feel they can be competitive.
“We can play with most any team and compete to a point that we have the ability to beat quality teams if we come ready to play,” Head Coach Kevin Fitzgerald said.
Most of the team believe that communication is key to having cohesiveness.
“Especially playing against the top teams in the state is getting us better at communicating. We just need to talk more,” Cooper Bartz, junior, said. “We need to play the full 80 minutes. It’s mental we need to get past it. When it’s towards the end. We need to get past that as a team.”
To be competitive is to be better than anyone else, and the players strive to do just that.
“I love competition and those players that have the drive to compete against top teams and players will be the most successful,” Coach Kevin Fitzgerald said.
Soccer is a sport that players need to be both mentally and physically prepared.
“After practices and games I have to ice [my body]. I have to stretch on my own even though we do that before games and practices. Mentally you have to envision yourself on the field to play the way you need to,” Beckham Wesselhoff, junior, said.
Practice is also essential for each player to achieve their best.
“There is a lot of competition for the position I play on the varsity team, so I pretty much practice daily,” Josiah Fornelli, junior, said.
The team has some obstacles to work on to become better, and more efficient, but they still show their strengths.
“Our strength is in our talent and versatility with a lot of players being able to play multiple positions,” Fitzgerald said.
“We have a lot of talent with ball movement, and we got the basics down,” Fornelli said.
Team members on the soccer field support each other to keep everyone motivated.
Their next game is on Sept. 25 at Naperville North.