By Matis Molina Ricard ’24 and Trey LaMay ’25
The varsity boys soccer team has set the standard with their recent performances and has high hopes for the rest of the season. The team finished off last season and made a strong playoff push going 4-1-2 in their last seven games. Hoping to build off the momentum from last year, the team fought hard against two Founders League teams where they were able to do more than just hold their own.
They played a friendly game against Kent that started rough as the Highlanders went down 0-1. The team only had two practices before this match whereas Kent had three weeks of pre-season and was much more prepared. As time went on, they were able to come back and tie the game 1-1.
In the first official game of the season, they played against Trinity Pawling, a very talented team, and knew that they would have to have a good performance to be able to get a win. And that is exactly what happened. After an unfortunate first half full of chances, they could not put any of them in the net and it ended 0-0. During the second half, the team was hungry for goals and made sure to claim a lead. They finished the game 2-0, happy with the win, but disappointed that the lead wasn’t greater.
The Highlander Newspaper met with some members of the team. With high hopes going into the season, we met with the team’s stars, such as Vico, a junior. He had this to say about the team “This season is going to be special. We have an amazing group that works together inside and outside the field. We had a good start to the season and no matter what the team is always going to be together for no matter what. We are always going to fight for each game and battle to get a win every time.”
We also talked to senior captain Adrian Daou who said, “We had two unfortunate losses but we showed that we can be competitive with any team we play against. I’m excited about the future and I think if the team can start to string together a few more wins in a row we could have a productive season and hopefully make it to the tournament for what I believe would be the first time in Gunn boys soccer history.”
Overall, the team is very optimistic about the rest of the season and are ready for the rest of their games. The team will be fighting for a spot in the NEPSAC playoffs. The team will be looking to make history the rest of the way and hope to clinch Coach Sheikh’s first NEPSAC playoff appearance.
