Heading into the 2021 season, East Haven boys’ soccer Head Coach Mike Papantonio wanted to see Yellowjackets continue to grow as a program and string together some wins. After changing up their formation halfway through the season, the Easties were able to pick up a few ties and victories, ultimately finishing their season with a 3-2 win versus Career-Hillhouse in their finale.

“Our goals were to improve individually and improve as a team,” Papantonio said. “To compete every game and see if we couldn’t scratch out some results.”

East Haven posted an overall record of 3-11-2 in the recent season. Coach Papantonio said the Yellowjackets played their best soccer of the year in a 1-1 tie against North Haven on Sept. 28, a 1-0 loss to Branford on Oct. 4, and a 1-0 defeat to Lyman Hall on Oct. 18. With his team competing in SCC, Papantonio knew that East Haven would have to deal with a difficult schedule that featured several perennial powerhouses.

“It’s always a tough schedule in the SCC. Six of our losses are to Notre Dame, Guilford and Cheshire,” said Papantonio. “We knew some of those games were going to be difficult. We really peaked at the end in our last game of the season.”

At the midway point of the campaign, the Yellowjackets switched their formation by going from four defenders to three. Coach Papantonio moved senior Anthony Sawicki, who had been playing midfielder, to the back line alongside fellow seniors Kevin Phan and Ethar Al-Hawari. Following that change, Papantonio saw the Easties begin to improve on the pitch and felt like he was watching a completely different team out there.

“We were two different teams, really. We had to move some pieces around on the field. We switched formations halfway through. We put three seniors in the back, and that changed the complexion of our mentality and our strategy,” Papantonio said. “We went from giving up eight or nine to pitching four games in a row where we only gave up one goal. We felt more comfortable as a unit.”

On Oct. 25, East Haven played a road game against Career-Hillhouse in its final matchup of the season. Career-Hillhouse scored the first goal of the game before Al-Hawari answered with a goal shortly before halftime. Junior captain Christofher Torres scored the first goal in the second half to give Yellowjackets the lead, but the Panthers came back with a goal to tie it up at 2-2.

The score stayed tied until there was seven minutes remaining in the game, when Torres netted his second goal of the contest to give East Haven a 3-2 advantage. The Yellowjackets maintained their lead through the final whistle and walked off the field with the one-goal victory.

Coach Papantonio felt that win served as the finale of his team’s season-long effort and was a great way to close out the campaign.

“It was the culmination of putting all of the pieces together. It was good to end on a high note like that,” said Papantonio. “It was pure perseverance. Kids got frustrated, but stuck with it and worked hard. They didn’t give up. You could see the energy and the emotion. It looked like we were starting to hit our stride.”

East Haven’s senior class was led by captain Victor Rolon, who stepped into the net to play the goalkeeper’s position this season. The Easties’ senior class also featured Sawicki, Phan, Al-Hawari, Merab Nabi, and Brayan Crespo.

Coach Papantonio said that East Haven’s seniors were great leaders both on and off the field and did a solid job of helping the team’s freshmen get acclimated to the high school level.

“I’ve had the seniors now for three years. It was easy to lean on them. They had a better understanding of what the expectations were,” Papantonio said. “This is the biggest freshman class I’ve had in three years. You can’t prepare those kids for what it’s like to compete against the Guilfords, Cheshires and Notre Dames. It was nice to have the seniors put things in perspective. We went in with a little bit more confidence.”

East Haven is slated to bring back just two seniors for next year in Torres and Jonathan Culcay. Torres earned All-SCC Second Team honors while serving as a junior captain this season.

Sophomores Marvin Cardenas and Dom Rivera have also seen ample varsity time, but overall, the Yellowjackets will be hitting the field with a young club next year. Coach Papantonio is hoping that Easties will be able to use their youth to their advantage in 2022.

“The team is going to be very young. Christofher and Jonathan are our only seniors. We could be building up,” said Papantonio. “It’s going to be tough next year. Marvin and Dom have played a significant amount of varsity, but there’s a lot of inexperience. We’re hoping we get another influx of freshmen and, hopefully, we can keep that trend of bigger freshman classes going.”

Last season, with COVID-19 restrictions affecting high school sports, the Yellowjackets played every game with uncertainty about when their season would end. This year, Coach Papantonio was happy to see his team back on the field with less restrictions and felt proud that East Haven capped off its season with a victory.

“We worked hard all season and got better. The lasting image will be the Hillhouse game and the unbridled joy on all of the kids’ faces,” Papantonio said. “That last game together under the lights, it was nice to see the kids be kids again. They had fun. It was great for them to get back out there and get into it.”

The East Haven boys’ soccer team’s roster features senior captain Victor Rolon; seniors Kevin Phan, Anthony Sawicki, Merab Nabi, Brayan Crespo, and Ethar Al-Hawari; junior captain Christofher Torres; junior Jonathan Culcay; sophomores Dom Rivera, Marvin Cardenas, William Vicuna, Freddy Lucero, Miguel Orellana, and Gregory Vera; and freshmen Nicholas Sanchez, Gustavo Flores-Soto, Matteo Romero, Logan Mendez, Matteo Martinez, and Frank Cabrera.