Soccer Falls to NK in the State Semis, but the Future Looks Bright

by Nate Kirshenbaum

It goes pretty much without saying that in America, soccer is sometimes considered the stepchild of all the major sports. While it's obviously the most popular sport worldwide, it simply has never attained the same degree of passion and number of rabid followers as our other four major sports have in the fabric of American culture. Of course, there was the excitement of the World Cup tournament this past summer, but other than that blip on the radar of the sporting scene every fourth year, it's a rare thing indeed to hear the local sports radio jockeys breaking down the recent spate of games on the New England Revolution's schedule.

Likewise, here at Hendricken, while we've become accustomed to but never take for granted our athletic success, our soccer team never gets quite the same amount of attention as some of our other teams. The Hawks did make it to the state championship game several years ago, but beyond that, it's been quite some time since the "footballers" have hung a banner in Pepin Gym.

Based on the performance of this year's squad, however, it's a good bet that that's going to change in the coming years.

After a bit of a slow start coming out of the gate at the beginning of the season, this year's edition of the soccer Hawks caught fire after a few games and closed the regular season on an eight-game unbeaten streak on their way to capturing the #3 seed for the state playoffs. The Hawks vanquished South Kingstown in the quarter finals - taking their unbeaten streak to nine games - but their season unfortunately came to an end in the state semi-finals this past Saturday at East Greenwich High School.

As soon as the game was underway, the South Kingstown offense was fluid, delivering their crisp passes with ease in the backfield. The Hawks' defense remained strong and aggressive, however, while South Kingstown held most of the possession time. The first near score was by the Hawks at 1:40 of the first half. Sophomore Lucas Gesmundo delivered a solid cross, but the Hawks failed to score as the ball rolled wide right past the net. At 2:10 something of a physical play occurred, as NK acquired a penalty on a collision when Hendricken attempted a header. Later on, Reed Worthington acted as the anchor for the Hawks defense, providing physicality to stop NK’s runs. This boosted the Hawks' offense, and midfielder Brennan Martin took a shot at Skipper’s goalie Antonio Varrecchione, but it was saved.

Throughout the game, the Skippers showed more balanced passing while the Hawks relied on longer passes. Both goalies played exceptionally well, especially Varrechione, who showed his versatility at one point by stepping almost to the end of the box to stop a long pass. At 8:45 of the first half, the Hawks gave up a roller to the right corner for the first score of the game. It was initially credited to Austin Degregory, but it turned out to be an 'own goal'. Two Hawks defenders kicked the ball simultaneously on either side and it rolled in backwards. There were very good corner kicks by the Hawks, but none converted into points.

The second half strategy for NK was conservative, with many defenders back and seemingly disregarding offense as their main focus in an effort to hold their 1-0 lead. At 26:38, Zachary Cook scored a Skippers' goal to extend the lead to 2-0. The Hawks finally scored on a header by freshman Chukwudi Onejose to make it 2-1.

The corner kicks continued to haunt the Hawks, as most of them were turned away. The Hawks' passing improved with the time running out, but they failed to score. Their playoff run ended in disappointing fashion, especially considering how far they had come since the beginning of the season.

The Hawks will lose some key players to graduation, but assistant coach Johnston feels that the Hawks now have a young core, an experienced core, and a core that has now tasted success and confidence. It is for these reasons that many in Hawks' soccer nation feel that the future does, indeed, look bright.