By Alex Johnson ’23
As school begins here at FGS, so do the athletics. Out of the many sports starting their seasons this year, Gunn Boys Soccer is starting its action-packed schedule. For varsity soccer, a new age begins for them as Tyler Sheikh takes up the role of head coach. Sheikh is a former Division I player at Quinnipiac and has coached soccer at the collegiate and high school levels at Bates College and various high schools in the Connecticut area.
The Boys’ varsity soccer team, however, is off to a rough start. As of October 11th, they are 0-6. In an interview with coach Sheikh, he states that the team has had difficulties with injuries and is losing valuable players, and, as of yet, still hasn’t had their full squad. There have also been scheduling conflicts with players that don’t play soccer as their main sport. Shiekh is optimistic, however, stating that despite being 0-6, “the team is positive.” He continues, “the team needs to play simple but hard… but most importantly have fun!” Coach Shiekh is hoping that as the season continues he will have more valuable players come back from their injuries and finish strong. Looking toward the future, coach Shiekh hopes to turn Gunn Soccer into a class B power and become “excellent.”
In an interview with goalie Matis Molina Ricard ‘24, he had similar views on the season: “It’s been a tough start to the season… we have had plenty of opportunities to win, but we have been unable to.” Despite this, Matis is optimistic and says that the team is hungry for a win. Matis also cites that the team, at times, lacks the drive to win during some games but at other times has sparks of greatness, citing a recent game against Westminster. At the start of the 2nd half, Gunn was down 6-1 but the team battled back and scored 3 goals in 20 minutes, thus finishing the game at 6-4. Matis is very excited for the rest of the season and is looking forward to “Winning every game for the rest of the season.”
Just after these interviews, on Wednesday, October 13th, Gunn Soccer had their first win against Hopkins with a resounding 2-1 win. Now with a win under the belt, the team is looking to continue the momentum of wins throughout the rest of the season.
