JV Soccer ends season with 8-12 record

The JV soccer team players finished their season with a 8-12 record. 

Several team members share the idea that friendship and family are two ways in which members of the JV soccer team feel about each other. Because they spend so much time together, they find themselves relying on each other and supporting each other through their challenges.

Freshman Dominic Cirone said there’s a lot of team bonding, as the boys spend a lot of time together. Teammates “become like my second family,” Cirone said. He noted that everyone on the team was very supportive. “This was my first year playing soccer, so there was a huge learning curve.” He admires the huge contributions from his teammates. “The amount of work that some of these kids put in is incredible and makes me more motivated,” he said.

Cirone’s teammate Freshman Lukas Samoloff credits a good sense of humor for helping the team remain unified. He believes that the team is both “funny and serious,” depending on the need to focus on what’s important. He also believes that they’re very hardworking, and their final record of 8–2 reflects their dedication. “It’s hard to realize how hard it is to do some of the things that we do until you try to do it. The amount of work put in is incredible, and it makes me more motivated,” Cirone added.

Freshman Blake Hsiao described his teammates as “hardworking, supportive, and very welcoming” because being new like the other freshmen the team made him feel welcomed and comfortable to be around. 

Cirone credits his family for encouraging him to join the team. “I had never even considered it until this summer. I worked really hard, though. My family and the culture surrounding the sport were a huge reason why I joined.”

For Samoloff, it was his friends who encouraged him to try out for the team. “My friends got me to go to the tryouts after not playing soccer for a year,” he said.

For Hasio it was because he had already had experience playing soccer he said “I have been playing soccer for a while I did Nutley United and I wanted to continue to play.” 

Cirone detailed the team’s tryout process: “There were two sections of tryouts, preseason and regular. Preseason tryouts were mainly to introduce the coaches, the team, and for additional evaluation. These practices saw us waking up at 6:30 am to be at the field by 7:00.” Cirone explained the difference between the two types of tryouts: [The preseason] were not mandatory by any means; [but], they definitely gave the players who came to them a huge advantage.” The regular tryouts consisted of “traditional soccer skills and consisted mainly of drills and scrimmages that we would later use in actual practice.”

Samoloff thought tryouts were “fun and hard, because they make us do fitness tests and skill drills.” He found the fitness test to be the toughest part of tryouts.

For Hasio, “tryouts were different for each day. They did a lot of running on a track then passing and scrimmages.” The coaches wanted to see what the boys could do and what they knew and positions they played. 

Cirone said soccer takes up much of the team’s time six days a week. While they’re off on Mondays, they have practice after school for two hours, and games are played on weekends. 

Samoloff said his practices consist of warm up laps, and defensive and offensive drills.” 

Hsiao added that parts of the practices after drills consist of scrimmages. 

Cirone enjoys his position as a right back, “I enjoy the combination of offense and defense.” He said that he uses his intelligence and quick moves to help win. 

Samoloff also plays right back but prefers his other position as center mid. “I love to play center mid because I’m the person with the most control of the ball,” he said.

Hasio plays center back because he defends the area right in front of the goal and can protect the goal before the other team scores. 

Cirone said that he would recommend others to try soccer as a great extra-curricular activity. “Managing is a great alternative if you don’t see yourself playing. The atmosphere is great. The coaches are incredibly supportive and helpful.” He noted that various amenities come with playing (pizza parties, ways to earn community service hours) and the team is one of the most close knit groups in the school. 

Samaloff would also recommend the sport to other interested students, but cautioned about how much physical conditioning is part of the team’s activities. “Watch out, because if cardio isn’t your thing, you might want to rethink the tryouts because you do a lot of conditioning during tryouts,” he said. 

Hasio said “it’s fun to play in high school; but, I wouldn’t recommend going to tryouts if you’re not in shape.”