Sports
Boys Soccer Looks to Redeem Quarterfinal Loss
When half of the team is made up of seniors, expectations will be high.
The Port Washington's boys soccer team is ready for a strong season, and see playoffs in its horizon. Here's why:
2010 Record: 4-4-4 (Lost in quarterfinals)
Head Coach: Don Fish (second year)
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Key players:
Senior, defenseman, Chris Romero
Senior, striker, David Katz
Senior, center, Aaron Feinberg
Senior, defenseman, Scott Regan
Senior, center, Andrew Zimmelman
Senior, center, Josh Weinberg
Senior, center, Andrew Boehm
Junior, goalkeeper, Michael Moraitis
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Position Breakdown: Fish breaks down his team into three divisions – bottom, middle and top. His bottom players are the defensemen, his middle players are in the center and that leaves his top players to play offense. The Vikings play a defense with four in the back row. Shun Akai and Shogo Yamamoto play on the outside while Chris Romero and Jeckar Correa play in the middle back. Fish puts Romero and Correo in the middle as opposed to the outside because they have more height, which Fish hopes can help protect the goal. Mike Moraitis, one of the few key players for Fish who isn’t a senior, will be in the goal for the Vikings.
Andrew Boehm and Josh Weinberg play central midfield for Fish. In his offense, everything runs through the middle. Fish has his players making short safer passes instead of the long bombs from one end of the field to the other. The transtion from defense to offense will go through either Boehm or Weinberg.
David Katz and Jason Hernandez are running the offense for Fish. There are about five or six guys who can rotate in and share the responsibility of the offense. Fish wants to see his team control the ball for the majority of the game.
Expectations: “I think they would be extraordinarily disappointed not to earn a playoff spot,” Fish said. In the division, there are a total of eight teams and the top four make it to the playoffs. The team believes it is capable of earning that playoff spot, and then from there they can progress. “We would really like to get to the county finals,” said Fish. So far, he likes what he sees in his team. “We could beat anybody once,” Fish said. “It would be nice if it was in the county finals one day.”
To get to the playoffs and even further, Fish is leaning on his seniors. “It is really a senior driven team.” The seniors gained invaluable experience in both last year’s playoff run and any club team they participated in.
Schedule: Sept. 14 – Port Washington @ Valley Stream, 4:30 p.m.; Sept. 16 - Port Washington @ East Meadow, 4:30 p.m.; Sept. 20 - Port Washington @ Plainview, 4:30 p.m.; Sept. 22 – Mac Arthur @ Port Washington, 4:45 p.m.; Sept. 26 - Port Washington @ Baldwin, 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 3 – Calhoun @ Port Washington, 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 5 – Valley Stream @ Port Washington, 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 11 – East Meadow @ Port Washington. 4:45 p.m.; Oct. 13 – Plainview @ Port Washington, 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 15 - Port Washington @ Mac Arthur, 10:30 p.m.; Oct. 19 – Hicksville @ Port Washington, 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 21 - Baldwin @ Port Washington, 4:30 p.m.; Oct. 24 - Port Washington @ Calhoun, 4:30 p.m.
News and Notes: The senior led team is feeling good about the upcoming season. They spent the summer playing and having captain’s practices, so they really feel they are coming back stronger than ever and they are motivated to win. “They know if they aren’t playing hard, they’re going to be watching a lot of soccer,” Fish said.
