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09/15/2014 12:00 AMThe Valley boys’ soccer squad, coming off a highly successful 2013 campaign in which the Warriors won the Shoreline Conference Championship and ended their season in the state semifinals, set foot on the soccer field for its first game on Sept. 9 against and at Cromwell, last fall’s state champion. Every team likes to get off on the right foot and get a test early on in the season, but Head Coach Mick Fearon and his Warriors got more than a taste of that when they tied the Panthers 0-0 after 20 minutes of overtime.
“For a first game this season—they were the state champions and we were the Shoreline champions—it was a where-do-we-stand-this-year after graduating four starters, so it was interesting to see,” said Fearon. “For the first game we played, it was played at such a high level of competition. Usually in the first game, there’s some rust, but both teams played well. On the whole, both defenses limited the offense to very few chances.”
Those offensive limits were evident as Cromwell outshot Valley 17-14, but senior vice captain and goalkeeper Michael Castelli saved 12 in net, showing off a stellar defense.
“I was definitely happy—the communication was good, there weren’t many breakdowns, and that’s very important defensively,” said Fearon, who is being assisted by Bryant Ziobron and JV Coach Dan Denegre. “That was a positive. Between him and backup goalie [and senior] Alex Cassells, they’re close in skill level, and Coach Ziobran has been working with them, which will benefit the two of them and the other kids on the team.”
Facing Cromwell in the first game seemed fitting, as Valley had played them so many times in big games last year, including the Shoreline semis. But it was his team’s hard play for 100 minutes that impressed Fearon the most, it being the first game of the season.
“The soccer was really good for a first game—both teams have a tremendous amount of respect for each other and it was such a competitive game. It’s a joy to play against them because of how we play them,” said Fearon. “It was like playing in the Shoreline semis or final, from beginning to end it was good soccer and the intensity level was high. Now it’s a matter of the boys maintaining that level in every game, not just in big games. It’s no use playing at this level in one or two games, you have to be consistent through the whole season.”
In addition to Castelli, senior defender DJ Berardis will also serve as captain, with seniors Cassells, midfielder Kevin Cole, defender Joe diTommaso, forward Ben Ferrucci, midfielder Alex Haughton, midfielder Brian Patterson, and defender Thomas Russell also expected to contribute greatly as most of them have seen significant varsity time and “will have to be the ones that will lead the boys who are starting off as varsity players,” according to Fearon.
The Warriors also have experience in juniors and forward Sam Armenia, defender Kyle Eline, forward Garrett Hines, forward Johnny Lacoske, midfielder Nick Lepore, defender/midfielder Kelvin Peterson, and forward Jason Simoneau, as well as with sophomores Jon Brophy, Victor Cartagena, Nate Gagnon, and Alex Lepore, whom Fearon said have already started to see some minutes.
“We surprised a lot of people last year in winning Shorelines after losing a lot of kids the year before. Our goals this year the kids set are to be in the top four in Shorelines and to qualify for the Shoreline tournament, as well as have a good enough record to get a good seed in the state tournament,” said Fearon. “I’ve been happy with the beginning—every year the kids change and there’s a different dynamic in the way the kids interact with each other, but the senior boys, in order to reach their goals, they do realize they really need to work hard this year. It’s not just going to happen for them because the team is playing good and has been so successful over the years.”