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Varsity Soccer Starts Season with Wins and Ties

The Varsity Soccer team is off to a great season start with an overall record of 3-0-1 and an in-league record of 1-0-0. After the final round of cuts on September 12th following the preseason jamboree, the team hosted their first regular season game, at home against Bridgton Academy, a New England Class A school. All class A games count towards the team’s overall New England record, meaning, at the end of the season, if they win a certain number of these games, the team qualifies for the New England playoffs. With this in mind, the Belmont Hill Varsity squad came out firing, scoring the first goal and never looking back, going on to a 5-1 win, with goals from Diego Pereira, Al Zenati, Robbie Cronin, Evan Ricci, and George Hu.

On that Friday, the team traveled 2 hours down to Barrington, Rhode Island to take on two non-league opponents, the Rocky Hill School and St. Andrew’s School. Despite having suffered through a two-hour bus ride, the Belmont Hill boys didn’t show any signs of slowing down, dominating Rocky Hill School in a 7-1 victory. The team then returned to their hotel, showered up, and headed to the mall for some dinner and the 7:30 showing of Black Mass. This overnight experience allowed the new teammates to grow closer and spend some quality time together off the soccer field. The next morning, following a buffet-style breakfast, all the team members packed up their bags and boarded the bus for their 1:30 p.m. game time start. Against St. Andrews, the defense had their hands full, as they were facing two Division-1 caliber strikers with speed and talent. Going into the final five minutes, Belmont Hill held the lead 2-1 but yielded a devastating goal with inside 5 minutes left in the game, resulting in a 2-2 tie. However, up to this point, none of the games had mattered in regards to our league standings.

The team ached to play their ultimate rival school in BB&N on Saturday, September 26th, in their first real league game. The week of practice before BB&N included the Circle of Death drill, in which players sprint in a large circle for 1-minute, 30-second, and 15-second increments, skill work, push-ups, sit-ups, and formation-style exercises, in order to fully prepare the team for this biggest game of the season. Coach Señor Montoya regarded the BB&N game as a “springboard for our season.” If the team could take down the league rival Knights, it would propel them into a fantastic spot for the rest of the season, giving them the necessary momentum to defeat other league teams.

Finally, on Saturday at 12 p.m, the moment finally came to show the league what Belmont Hill soccer is really made of.  Just 7 minutes into the game, Evan Ricci tapped the ball in the back of the net, giving the team a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately, Chad Meyers picked up his second yellow card on a horrible call with 15 minutes left in the first half, forcing Belmont Hill to play with 10 men for the rest of the game. The team rallied around Chad, and everyone worked a little harder in the second half. The final whistle blew and the team celebrated a huge 1-0 victory against a league rival. The game really exemplified the definition of a team effort, and every player and coach couldn’t be more excited to see what the rest of the season has in store.  

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