After finishing the regular season off strong, the boys soccer team’s season ended with a devastating 1-0 loss to Blair in the first round of the playoffs.

After a rocky 2-9 season, coach Arnold Tarzy remains satisfied with the team’s performance and hard work.

“I was very proud of how our boys finished off the season,” Tarzy said.  “They found an inner pride that comes with being a part of a program that has enjoyed so much success.  They raised their level of play to a point where we were able to defeat Sherwood, the number one ranked team in the Washington Post top 10.  We had become the team nobody wanted to play.  In our last six matches, which included two top-five teams and last years regional champs, we gave up only four goals.”

Even with the loss of seven seniors, the Bulldogs are optimistic about their chances next year.
“It is never good to lose seniors,” sophomore Dylan Regan said. “We will just have to learn to step up and lead the team next year.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Eli Lorenzi has already done a great job filling in for injured senior goalkeeper Noah Sees, but the loss of senior Cameron Kidwell could cripple the team’s defense. Juniors Stephen Hauschild and Richmond Van Winter are expected to step up and try to fill that void next season.

“We were a very young team this year as a product of the level of talent of our young players and the loss of players who we were otherwise counting on this year,” Tarzy said. “The product is that a lot of young players received game experience.  I look forward to next season and those players stepping up even more.”

The team also expects some junior varsity players to be able to come up to varsity and help the team.

“I think the team’s strength will lie in our defense and our strong, physical play,” junior Petey Liakakis said. “Our weakness, much like this season, will probably be putting the ball in the back of the net.”

The team will have to learn to work off of each other’s strengths in order to have a successful season.

“Once we show up next August 15 we will begin to see what kind of a team we are and we can assess our system of play once we see the team’s on-field personality,” Tarzy said.