Varsity boys’ soccer coach Chato Alvarado has coached Park teams for 19 years, but this year he is making an extra big impact.

Alvarado said the boys’ soccer team is fifth in the state and is expected to keep playing well and get as far as possible. He said he assess the week based on the team’s physical condition and how many games they have.

“We like playing day by day depending on how things are going and then we just try to prepare for the following game,” Alvarado said.

Soccer captain, junior Thomas Salamzadeh, said he wants to make sure the team stays focused throughout the whole game. He said it is important to start out strong and dominate the game right away.

“We didn’t do that too well today and the game was close,” Salamzadeh said. “In the second half we kind of took care of it but if we can finish the game off right away it’ll just make it a lot easier for us.”

Salamzadeh said they have plenty big games they’ll need to work hard for to get the desired outcome and their game against Jefferson isn’t any different.

“Our next one against Jefferson will be a good one. They’re the next best team in the conference,” said Salamzadeh. “If we can beat them it’ll be really good for us and not seal our conference win, but make it easier for the rest of the season.”

Senior and captain Zinedine Kroeten said everyone realizes we need to keep corner kicks and throw-ins out of the net to win against teams like Washburn who are ranked number one in the state.   

“We need to work on defending dead balls because we’ve gotten five balls scored on us,” said Kroeten.

Senior Sam Gage said that playing plenty of balls through to the forwards is key to scoring goals and winning.

“We just need to feed our forwards because we have pretty good forwards for our conference,” Gage said.

Playing consistently against teams like Washburn and Jefferson is key to having a successful season, according to Kroeten.

“We just plan to go at those games like any other and play how we normally play and if we do that we will come out with a win,” Kroeten said.

Overall, the team is getting the outcomes they want, but the team has said they are aware that to get to the next level, they will really have to tune in and play smart for the whole 80 minutes.