This year’s season for JV boys soccer went, according to a player, “pretty well [and] while we didn’t score a lot we had some great results against some tough opponents.” There were many hard fought games played throughout this season, particularly the win over Munster. On top of the hard fought games there was also significant development going on in the background, making this season potentially very impactful for later years of play. 

Over the past season the team has had great defense. Without a strong defense a good offense can be meaningless, and JV boys soccer has certainly got that covered, with one player saying, “Our defense was rock solid, we never lost by more than 2-0.” Keeping games close has been one of the strongest areas this year, and when we get our offense up to spec, our team will easily be able to go places. Another player stated that, “we could stop the long ball anytime and also we could get in most of the passing lanes,” showing their defensive prowess in shunting away attempted advancements.  

While we did a great job defending throughout the season, one place that could use some improvement is our offense. Throughout the past season there has been a reoccurring issue of the offense struggling to get the ball in the goal. The players are very honest about this with one saying that “our attacking players couldn’t really shoot,” and another agreed saying that “we could definitely have improvement on our finishing attempts.” While we had some difficulty in that field, it is good that the players recognise that as a shortcoming and are honest about where they can improve because if they are aware of where they need improvement then they can work towards improving for next season. If the players would not recognize shortcomings there would be far less room for improvement, but that is not the case.

One area that the team has improved and is continuing to improve on that is outside of the stat sheet is in mentality and in team chemistry. Team chemistry and mentality play a huge role in their success and it is very good that they have a strong focus on those areas, with one player stating, “We have grown a lot, becoming stronger and more trustworthy to each other.” However the same player said that the team “too often lose[s] [their] positive mentality.” Another player mirrored this by saying that he also “need[s] to work on [his] mentality,” showing that while they have grown a lot in this area there is still much room for improvement. Fortunately this needed improvement is very apparent in the minds of players. This is important because going into the off season the players all know where and how to improve. Improving focus and mindset, particularly in tough games will strongly aid the team going forward into next season and seasons onward. 

The biggest high point of the season was their win over Munster who had 7 wins at the time. On this day they just played well and did not have any large shortcomings, a good example of what is possible next year. Their low point of the season was their loss to Riley. This came after they went in expecting an easy win, but they had anything but that. They ended up losing and one player said that “going in, we were just way too cocky” and that they “were humbled very quickly.” This goes to show how much mentality plays a role, and with them working to improve mentality performances such as this will likely become far more scarce next season. Overall next year will hopefully look a lot more like the Munster game than like the Riley game and they appear to be on track to make that a reality. 

All of the players interviewed have a lot of hope for the future of the team itself and for their future in the team. They hope to eventually make varsity next year or in the years to come. They expressed hope for the future of the team in their ability to get better team chemistry, improve their mentality, and work on improving their offense. While this season may not have gone the team necessarily was hoping for, it is for sure a strong building block that will spur future success if they put in the effort, which they definitely want to do. 

Photographer for all pictures: Brayden Liddell