by Danny Rizzuto
This Boys Soccer Season has been a wild ride for the team. Coming off a disappointing season last year, a majority of us were not excited for the year coming up. That all changed when Jon Bradley was named coach. There was a glimmer of hope for the program now, and the entire team was ready to give their all. The season did not start off as planned, suffering a demoralizing defeat to Westhill by a score of 7 to 1, which was luckily overturned. Away from home our first game, our team did not expect a turn out. But as the game progressed, it seemed as if we had the home field advantage. The girls team after practice had come to our game, and they were making twice the amount of noise of anyone else there. Even as we were losing, the girls team supported us until the bitter end.
This Boys Soccer Season has been a wild ride for the team. Coming off a disappointing season last year, a majority of us were not excited for the year coming up. That all changed when Jon Bradley was named coach. There was a glimmer of hope for the program now, and the entire team was ready to give their all. The season did not start off as planned, suffering a demoralizing defeat to Westhill by a score of 7 to 1, which was luckily overturned. Away from home our first game, our team did not expect a turn out. But as the game progressed, it seemed as if we had the home field advantage. The girls team after practice had come to our game, and they were making twice the amount of noise of anyone else there. Even as we were losing, the girls team supported us until the bitter end.
The Girls Soccer Team are the loudest bunch of people I think I have ever met. They out screamed any other crowd we faced, making every game they attended for us have the feeling of a home game. From their loud “BLUE WAVE SOCCER” chants to their odd fascination with Goalie Jack Fisher, the girls were an integral part of our team. While seniors Eric Kanigan and Elliott Helgans fought for the ball on the field, seniors Marieke Bravo and Sara Shaker took the fight to the stands with their words and voices. I don’t believe I know a girl out there louder than Sara Shaker, and I expect her to lose her voice in college. She said of the season, “I lost my voice at the Brian McMahon game at the beginning of the season and I am yet to get it completely back. I have never had so much fun going to a sporting event as I have had at the boys (soccer) games. The team has brought a lot of spirit to this school.” All the girls deserve complements for their encouragement, and without them I seriously doubt we would have achieved as much as we did.
As the season progressed, we started winning. We liked the feeling of winning, and so we did everything we could to keep winning, and the school took notice. Slowly students started making their way to our games. One individual, Senior Jack Rehm, is someone I have to recognize as our greatest fan. This kid came to almost every one of our games. Whether he was in the stands cheering with friends or in his car escaping the cold, I knew that Jack Rehm would be watching the Boys Team. Before every game, in school, he would seek out soccer players, walking up to them, pushing them around and say, “Are you ready?” psyching us up for the game to come. His pump up speeches in Journalism made me excited for every game; I could not wait to get on the field. “You guys did a good job of interacting with the fans and made every win feel like a win for the crowd and every loss hurt us just as much as it hurt the team,” said Rehm.
With Rehm came many more people, people I never knew would ever be interested in our team. I don’t know if it started as an excuse not to go home or genuine support for our team, but soon we had a following. Familiar faces returned every game to root us on; to rally us through trying times and difficult games. At every game there was someone there and at the big games there was everyone. The crowds at the New Canaan games were phenomenal; thank you for everyone who came out. Looking over and seeing such a profuse number of fans motivated us more than any speech could.
The Westhill game remains special to many people who were there; at what other sport can people storm the field and it be ok? The turnout to this game was amazing. I could not comprehend the amount of people who decided to attend the game and neither could the rest of us. We were no longer only playing for ourselves; we were playing for everyone in the crowd. “It was an overwhelming feel of ecstasy watching the game. As I was watching I would turn to my peers and state ‘This IS soccer,’” said senior Cal Kevorkian.
The Football Team wasn’t our number one fan going into the season. It was clear that there would be a quiet rivalry between the two teams. Except, it didn’t stay quiet. It was soon obvious through trash talking that each team wanted to do better than the other, silently wishing for the other to lose. I hate to admit it, but Football’s unbeaten streak outlasted ours. On the other hand, our unbeaten streak consisted of more games. This rivalry was so heated that after our 1-0 loss to Wilton, the Football team went into a cheer on their bus. However, as our season went on, I started to see some football players attend our games. There still may have been a rivalry, but I knew that there was a respect (at least from some players) forming between the teams. After practices some players would come over to watch the end of our games. We may not have the best relationship, but I still feel the football team deserves a thank you; for motivating us to do well and for eventually coming to support us.
The point of this blog is to say thank you to everyone who came to our games. It felt like we had 12th man on the field when everyone was cheering for us. The fans made this season special to the team, and I can only hope that next year’s team will earn the same respect.
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