Soccer has become very popular in the United States. Especially with the World Cup this summer, people were glued to their TVs when USA played. That’s what Nazareth Academy hopes to accomplish by having viewers watch their games on the high school cube. With a great run into the state playoffs last year, losing in the super-sectionals, the boys soccer team hopes to have the same success as they did last year.

Presently, the varsity soccer team is 8-5-2 overall and 3-2-1 in conference. When asked about the team this year, head varsity Coach Doug Hunt said “the youth and potential is the most exciting part of this team as well as the most challenging.” Coach Brian Korinek also added his input by saying “I am most excited for this group, a combination of experience and youth, to incorporate and exhibit the words of Thomas Edison; opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Coach Korinek wants the team to discover and fall in love with the process of working hard.

Connor ONeill, a varsity soccer player, said that he is ecstatic about how well they’ve done so far. From last year’s team they have only 3 returning starters. He said that everyone came in at the beginning of the season fighting for minutes, and that helped them mature quickly into an over .500 team. He said that he was looking most to playoffs and that they hope to get back to the super-sectionals and finish the job this time around.
When asked about what both coaches were looking forward to this year, Coach Korinek said that he was excited for the first ever soccer homecoming game on Friday October, 10th against Marian Central Catholic. Coach Hunt said that he was looking forward to the rest of the season for the team to stay consistent and improve, from one day to the next.

Another player, Brian Murphy who is a senior on the varsity soccer team, said that the team is willing to put in the time so that they can see their success in the near future. He is also excited with the young talent that has helped the team this year and is excited for the soccer program to progress in the future. Murphy said that he wanted to get past regionals first and then see where it will take the team. Brian explained that it will be tough, but if they leave everything on the field, there is no reason why they can’t accomplish the teams’ goal.

All teams want to contend for a high school state playoff championship but to do so is a hard feat. One must go up against the best of the best in the playoffs in order to win a state championship. Coach Hunt’s goals for the rest of the season are to be a competitive program and at the end of the season to contend for a regional championship and to progress into the state playoffs and tournament. As for Coach Korinek, his goals for the season are to reach the double digits in wins in overall record, to finish in the top half of the conference, and to have an above .500 win percentage in conference.

For most high school soccer teams, analysts know which teams are good and which teams are not. With that said, Nazareth Academy boys soccer wants to put themselves on the map as a perennial powerhouse instead of a dark horse.