Freshman Soccer Recap

On August 15th, 22 Oratory freshmen showed up for their first day of soccer tryouts at Cavalero Field.  It seemed everyone was nervous and there was not much chatter among the prospective players.  As the tryouts began, we all learned that some freshman were better than others and some would even play for the JV.  Not only did we learn about each other, we learned about the amount of energy that would be expelled in practice. Namely, running and a lot of it.  By the end of the first three days, we were all exhausted, but all 2 of us were still there.  At this time 6 freshman had moved to JV and the remaining 16 of us formed the freshman team under Coach Bosland.  

As the season began, we were a group of strangers who could barely string 5 passes together, but as preseason wore on and we did more running, our skills began to improve along with our communication.  We began to understand how our coach wanted us to play and what we needed to do in order to be a good soccer team. We managed to make it through the preseason and into our first game of our high school careers.     

Our first game of the season was home to Glen Ridge.  Once that game finished, we promptly forgot about it.  Our second game was much closer with our first goal of the season being scored by George Castro.  He was able to capitalize on an errant kick from the goalkeeper and thump the ball into the back of the net.  After this, there was not much to write home about from our next three games, but we kept improving drastically even if the scoreline said differently.

In our first game of October, we sought to revitalize our season in the new month.  Our first game of that month was home against Linden.  It started well for Oratory with four goals to tie the game up in the first twenty minutes.  The first goal was scored by Luke Bernstein, two were put in by George Castro, and Patrick Windels had the fourth.  Luke was able to take a first time finish off of a beautiful through pass from Dylan James.  George’s first goal was the best shot of his life with it being a half-volley into the far corner from outside the penalty area.  His second goal was a penalty kick off the foul Matt Garibaldi drew.  Patrick was able to put in our last goal of the game off a cross from Matt.  Even though the score did not stay in Oratory’s favor, it was the best game by far for the freshman team.  Throughout the last two games of the season, there was still much improvement in every position on the field.  It was a very tough season for the freshman boys, but they all grew as soccer players and young men through the hardships of August, September, and October.

After the season was over, I had the opportunity to speak with Coach Bosland about the season and he made many fine points. His analysis of the season was “I think our seasons was very successful, despite the record.  The current Freshmen group is largely made up of players who have relatively limited soccer experience, and who have played largely town teams.  These teams are made up of town soccer club players who have played together for years while our group just came together this past season.  Most of our players have improved dramatically.  I would particularly like to point out Sesugh, Matt, and Jack Coyne who have played large roles despite coming into the season with no real soccer experience.  I think the home game against Linden. demonstrated how far the team had improved scoring 4 goals against a team that totally dominated us earlier in the season and which played several JV players against us.”  The Freshman soccer season was a very positive and valuable learning experience for all of the players on the team.