The boys soccer team is on a hot streak right now, with six wins in a row. Coming off an underwhelming season with only three wins last year, the Orioles have really fired up this year as they continue to push to win their conference.
Head coach Anson Opara said although the boys started off shaky, he was impressed by the way the team fought back and stuck to it to end up with the win.
“We were kind of like asleep. I don’t really know what happened,” Opara said. “(We) got scored on right away, and they were just not ready. They got a little overconfident, and then they turned it on, then equalized, and then they were able to kind of put it together second hand.”
Senior captain Johnny Ryan said the team did a good job of not giving up when giving up the first goal and playing hard to the very end.
“Once again, we got scored on early, but we kept our heads high,” Ryan said. “We didn’t stop playing our game, and we just kept scoring.”
Junior Luke Gearhart said the team’s best aspect of the game was how well everyone was passing the ball.
“We passed really well and I think we moved the ball pretty well too,” Gearhart said.
Ryan said the team struggles with pressure at the end of the game and that the best way to fix that is to stay calm when it comes down to the final minutes.
“We need to slow those games out better. Every time we’re up at the end of the game, it always feels pretty shaky at the end, even if we’re up,” Ryan said. “But the best way we can fix that I think is just by keeping our heads cool at the end of the game.”
Gearhart said one thing the team can do better is take their time when the ball is closer to the net rather than getting the ball down the field as fast as they can since that leads to mistakes.
“We need to work on playing through the back instead of just playing boot-ball, sending it up top,” Gearhart said.
According to Opara, his goals for the season are to win the conference and make a run for state.
“We are gonna try to hopefully maybe get a state appearance we haven’t been in a long time,” Opara said. “Then definitely try to take this conference down and get two more games left in the conference that we can maybe see what happens.”
The team has a chance to continue its winning streak as they take on Hopkins at 5 p.m. Sept. 24. at the Orioles stadium.
