By: Giselle Tlatelpa and Melanie Maurad
With Port Chester High School’s fall sports coming to end, the soccer team’s fate of reaching the playoffs isn’t far off.
They first initiated with a heating summer of clinics that prepared the team for what awaited them in their season. Their coaches, John Cafaldo and Steven Hernandez, have prepared all of the 30 players with crucial skills and knowledge on what to expect from each game. Every practice, the players treat it as if it were a real match. Through rain and shine the team has pulled through, having faced nine games to this point with five wins and four losses.
Some may look at the team’s score and not be impressed, as there’s only one more win than loss. But what many don’t realize is that the varsity soccer boys are a part of a very competitive league, one where the boys go into a game not knowing what the outcome may be or what skills are needed, as each team is individually prepared to take on their expectations of the game.
Regardless of their 5-4 school record, every game has been carried out with strength, energy, and devotion from each player. Whether it be the goalie blocking the shots, striker using his powerful kicks to score, or defenders protecting the net’s territory, each member of the team does his part. They use their training and senses in order to bring home a win not only for themselves, but for our school as well.
Every game may not always result in the outcome the team expects, but win or lose, they always come out as a team in the end. A team that has managed to put differences, losses, and personal issues aside, for the purpose of making the 2023 season the best it can possibly be.
When asking the Varsity captain, Ramaul Morgan (Jersey #24), How do you feel the team has grown as the season has gone on? He answered, “We have prioritized bonding more and growing closer relationships within the team. From that, it feels like we’ve become more of a family, which has made us stronger on the field as a team.”
With a quote from Morgan, one is able to have an insight on the team’s true internal environment and it’s clear that the soccer team isn’t just a group of players, but brothers. Brothers that have worked together in every training, practice, and game in order to make one another proud.
Not only that, but each game, each win has brought the team closer and closer to their goal of reaching the playoffs. The final torment where all high school teams battle it out on the soccer field in attempts to be named one of the top ten high school soccer teams in our county.
Hungry to obtain that victorious feeling, each individual player continues to work two times harder every practice they have until that time arrives. Time is ticking, as we have a great sense of hope that our players this year will be able to add the title to Port Chester High School’s sports history.