This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
11/06/2022 12:03 PMHead Coach Jake Callahan and the East Haven boys’ soccer team wrapped up the 2022 season by earning a 2-2 draw against Platt Tech in a road game on Oct. 27. This marked the second tie of the year for the Yellowjackets and was an improvement from when they took a 5-3 loss to the Panthers in the teams’ first meeting earlier in the season.
East Haven traveled to Milford to take on non-conference opponent Platt Tech for its regular-season finale and battled the Panthers to a 2-2 draw in the matchup. Junior Marvin Cardenas gave East Haven a 1-0 lead when he scored the first goal of the game on a free kick in the 19th minute of the contest. Platt Tech came back with a goal in the 21st minute to make it 1-1 at halftime.
Freshman Milton Jimenez netted a goal off a free kick in the 45th minute to put the Yellowjackets up 2-1 early in the second half. The Panthers came back to score the tying goal in the 57th minute to knot the score at 2-2, which held up as the final after the two sides played scoreless soccer for the rest of regulation and then through overtime. Junior goalie Greg Vera played net for East Haven in the game.
East Haven also dropped a close decision to Career-Hillhouse in a home game last week, losing the contest by a 1-0 score on Oct. 25. The Yellowjackets finished the year with an overall record of 2-12-2.
This year marked East Haven’s first season with Callahan as the program’s head coach. The Yellowjackets featured a young roster that consisted of three seniors. Two of those seniors—2021 All-SCC honoree Christofher Torres and Javier Culcay—missed significant time with injuries, adding a challenge for Callahan in his debut campaign. As Callahan found his footing as head coach, he knew that he could always rely on senior captain Nathaniel Rivera to provide solid defense and quality leadership for the Easties.
“Nathaniel Rivera was my senior captain on the defense, and he was my rock every single game,” Coach Callahan said. “He led by example, and the kids really respected him for that.”
Rivera’s prowess on the defensive back line proved especially valuable this year as the Yellowjackets tried to find consistency at the goalkeeper position. East Haven had several athletes play goalie this season.
“We never really had a consistent goalie. We had 16 games this season. I had five different goalies,” said Callahan. “It really came down to Nathaniel and his ability to control the back line.”
Fortunately for Coach Callahan, his coaching staff featured an East Haven alum who is very familiar with the goalkeeping position. Assistant Coach Connor Koziatek was a strong goalkeeper and defender for the Yellowjackets for four years and was named captain in his senior season. Koziatek’s expertise helped acclimate players who had previously never played in net.
“I was really fortunate this year, because my assistant coach used to be the starting goalkeeper for East Haven High School back when he was in school,” Callahan said. “So, he was able to work with every single goalie that we had for the season, making sure that they had at least the basics to get them through the games that they played.”
Delegating while relying on his assistant coach was an area of growth for Callahan during his first season at the helm with East Haven. Callahan mastered this quickly and was able to focus on implementing his style of play, which emphasizes precision passing and moving cohesively as a unit on the pitch.
“I was really trying to get them to play to their strengths this year. They’re very technical, they’re very good with their skills and their feet, so we were trying to keep the ball on the ground, short passes, so they can use their skills instead of booting the ball and trying to outrun someone,” said Callahan. “We were really trying to get it to where they were trusting each other, making more passes, and keeping the ball in a tight formation. They realized, too, the more that they passed, they weren’t as tired by the end of the game, so they were able to play longer.”
East Haven’s two victories this season came against Jonathan Law (3-1) at home on Sept. 19 and at Career-Hillhouse (2-0) on Sept. 30. The Yellowjackets also notched a 1-1 draw against Lyman Hall in a home game on Oct. 18 prior to last week’s tie with Platt Tech.
While this year’s win total came up short of Coach Callahan’s preseason goal, there were still plenty of positives to take away from the 2022 campaign. East Haven scored more total goals than in any year since 2006 by netting 24 goals this season. Also, the Yellowjackets are returning everyone except for three players next year and will have a strong senior class that includes current junior captains Cardenas and Dom Rivera. Coach Callahan has his sights set on a postseason berth in 2023.
“They’re just a young team and aren’t used to playing with each other. That was what really stopped us from going all the way,” Callahan said. “But that would really be my goal next year is to make it to the postseason.”
This winter, many of East Haven’s players are hoping to gain more experience together on the pitch by participating in an indoor soccer league at the Connecticut Sportsplex in North Branford. Coach Callahan thinks that playing together during the offseason will provide noticeable benefits for the Yellowjackets as a group.
“You could tell the difference between a team who has played separately and the teams who played together year-round,” said Callahan. “They’ve never really played together [in the offseason]. They all go off to their own teams. So, I’m really trying to keep them together. That would really benefit us.”
A key aspect of next year’s growth will be the performance of current junior Freddy Lucero. Callahan praised Lucero’s positive attitude during games and expects him to grow into a strong leader as a senior next season.
“I have no doubt. He really stepped up,” Callahan said of Lucero, “I had a talk with him about how captains don’t always need to wear the armband, and he took that to heart and stepped up, so I definitely see him making that step. He always joked around and called himself the emotional support captain.”
There is an infectious positivity surrounding Coach Callahan and his squad. It’s a quality that goes beyond the record books and lays the foundation for a successful program. East Haven’s postseason goals are within reach. However, regardless of the record, you can be sure that Callahan and his athletes are going to enjoy the journey.
“It was so much fun,” Callahan said of his first season. “The kids had a blast. I had a blast. I just wish that translated to the wins, but that will come with age.”