Following its finish atop the SCC Oronoque last year, the North Haven's boys' soccer squad had its sights set on the repeat this fall, a tall task considering Federico Fiondella's team returned just one starter in senior captain goalie Chris Musco. Despite starting the season winless through its first five contests, the Indians were bolstered by the return of captain forward Alex Longobardi from injury, as well as fellow senior Parker Heyl to moving central-defensive midfielder, and those two factors, combined with great senior leadership and everyone gaining confidence through experience, led to crucial victories in the second half of the season. North Haven notched wins versus division foes Branford, Career/Hillhouse, Cross, and East Haven-along with big ties versus Shelton and Guilford-propelling the Indians into the Class L State Tournament and earning Fiondella's team a share of the Oronoque crown.

"We weren't sure how things would go after graduating all those guys and playing six of our first eight games on the road," said Fiondella, whose squad went 5-3 in the Oronoque to share the title with Branford, Cross, and Career/Hillhouse. "But we talked to our seniors about believing in themselves and the team, we had a bunch of guys step up, everyone kept improving, and that's why we played better against most teams the second time around and picked up some big division wins. I was happy that we became the first team in Oronoque history to win it in back-to-back seasons."

North Haven, which lost to Darien 3-0 in states to finish at 5-8-4, was led by its senior captain trio of goalkeeper Musco, forward/midfielder John Johnson, and Longobardi, each of whom earned All-SCC Oronoque honors. Musco, a three-year starter, posted a goals-against average of 1.29, was named the Indians' Most Valuable Player, gained selection to the Senior Bowl, and was co-recipient of the Jim and Brenda Howlett Scholar Athlete Award. All three captains also received the Outstanding Leadership Award.

"I've never coached a goalie who has the mixture of talent, leadership, intelligence, competitiveness, and modesty that Chris has," Fiondella said. "He meant so much to our program and I really can't say enough good things about him."

Fiondella also had plenty of good things to say about Johnson-who recorded seven goals with four assists and received the Indians' Sportsmanship Award-as well as Longobardi, who posted five goals with seven assists. Johnson also received the team's Hat Trick Hero Award for scoring three goals against East Haven.

"Johnny did something this year that I'll never forget as in one our games some of our opponent's athletes were getting fired up about something and he actually went over and helped calm them down. After the game, one of the referees told me that was the first time he had ever seen that," Fiondella said. "Alex missed a few weeks, but that allowed us to move Johnny to forward, and when Alex came back, the two of them did a great job playing together up front. Alex scored some big goals and had one of our best of the season by scoring against Guilford to tie the game late."

Earning All-Oronoque Honorable Mention were Parker Heyl and senior sweeper Dom Schioppo with Heyl also receiving the Indians' Most Improved Player distinction, plus the Jim and Brenda Howlett Scholar Athlete Award and making the All-SCC Academic Team. Schioppo was presented with the Guido Fiondella Merit Award named in honor of Coach Fiondella's late father.

"Wee just became a different team once we moved Parker to defensive central-midfielder as he was a physical presence who always won balls and got them to our midfielders," Fiondella said. "Dom took last year off, but came back and did a great job as our sweeper, a position where we needed someone to step in after Istvan Kanyo graduated."

The rest of North Haven's senior class consisted of defenders Tyler Hinde and Chris DeFonce, forward Frank Contento, plus midfielders Cesar Meneses and Ryan Coughlin. Hinde was presented with the team's Alumni Award.

Next year's senior captains will be defender/central-midfielder Steve Cofrancesco, central-midfielder Chris Chieffo, and defender Dylan Van Bramer. Also returning from the varsity roster as seniors will be midfielders Neeko Calderon, Dave Goodrich, Zach Barger, and Gray Piscatelli; defenders Don Bogart and Dillon McManus; and forwards Nick Rodriguez and Sam Dunning; along with soon-to-be-juniors Josh Calderon (defender) and Zach Tabak (goalkeeper); plus forward Ryan Chieffo, who will be a sophomore. Bogart was the Indians' Rookie of the Year; Calderon notched the goal of the year (assisted by Coughlin) in a tie against Guilford with Longobardi the runner-up for scoring in another game versus Guilford; Cofrancesco, Goodrich, McManus, and Piscatelli were the team's World Cup Champions; and Cofrancesco, Goodrich, and McManus earned All-SCC Academic honors.

Coming back next year after being Varsity in Training players this season will be Francesco Scarano (defender) and Kevin Meneses, who will are currently sophomores; in addition to midfielders Colin Uyeki and Walter Muralles, who are freshmen. Uyeki and Scarano were named MVPs of the JV squad with Scarano gaining Sportsmanship honors. Eric Lofquist was the JV team's Most Improved Player.

Fiondella finished his 11th year as head coach with assistance from RJ Notaro, JV Head Coach Jim Dean, goalkeeper coach Ercole Casella, plus Mike Dickinson, Antonio Russo, and Marlon Rafael. Dean and Casella received the team's Outstanding Service Award. Nick Mongillo and Teo D'Elia coahed the middle school squad and the Indians' managers were Stephanie Ruggeri, Enrique Baker, Patrick Legates, Evan Longobardi, Joey Russo, Matt Bogart, and Emily Ruggeri.