Another Fine Season For Special Team

One year removed from county championship, boys’ soccer team returns to playoffs

Another+Fine+Season+For+Special+Team

Luke de Armas, Editor-in-Chief

For the Floral Park boys’ soccer team, a roller coaster ride of a season came to an unexpected close. The Knights’ last game of the season was a rematch of last year’s county final matchup against the Jericho Jayhawks. Although Floral Park succeeded in securing the first county championship in school history last year, the team suffered a heartbreaking 2-0 loss. The game was a tightly contested matchup that was hard-fought from the first whistle until the end of the game. An early goal for the Jayhawks along with an unlucky long shot with under 15 minutes left ultimately sealed the game for the Jayhawks. Although the boys didn’t get their desired result, they know they left everything they had on the field that night.

The start of this soccer season was filled with high hopes towards winning another county championship. However, the boys faced early adversity in regards to their record. After achieving a record of 1-1-1 through the first 3 league games of the season, the team was forced to forfeit these three games due to a paperwork error. The season seemed over for the Knights, who would have to win the majority of their remaining games to even qualify for the playoffs. Instead of losing hope, the team came together and worked tirelessly to achieve its one goal of receiving a playoff bid. The Knights went 5-1-3 in their last 9 games of the season, receiving an 18th seed in the playoffs against all odds. In their first playoff game, the Knights had a dominating 3-1 victory against the higher seeded Sewanhaka Indians before eventually facing Jericho.

The end of this season wasn’t just an end to a varsity soccer season, but the end to a plethora of soccer careers. Many of the seniors, including myself, have been playing soccer together since the 4th grade. Little did we know the magnitude of this beautiful game and how it would change our lives forever. Although the seniors’ soccer careers are over, the relationships and memories that were made will last for years to come. The boys’ soccer team wasn’t just your average Floral Park sports team. Weekly bondings, team group chats, and practice banter brought us closer together than any other varsity team. We will greatly cherish the off-field experiences that ultimately bolstered our play on the field. These group of boys aren’t just talented soccer players, but a group of friends that eventually became family.

The team consisted of Lorenzo Arrindell, Michael Baldini, Logan Buckley, Jose Caro, Timothy Cleere, Thomas Conway, Luke de Armas, Neil Dillon, Jack Dixon, Michael Filoso, Brendan Fogarty, Cormac Gill, Brian Hamerman, Ryan Hayden, Christopher Mckie, Maximus Meighan, Matthew O’Donnell, Ryan O’Hare, Matheus Ottman, Savion Ponce, Micheal Reilly, Shomari Samuel, Daniel Schaeffer, Harry Schelchter, Matthew Simunovich, Connor Sullivan, Cesar Vasconez, Richard Ventura, and Justin Vij. Congrats to the seniors on historic careers and good luck to the returning players who get to experience the thrill of another upcoming varsity soccer season.