After starting fresh with nearly half of the members being new to the team, boys’ soccer works together in order to keep up their impressive 7-3-1 record, as of October 16.

The team lost 13 graduated players, which has forced the team to work harder in aspects such as team bonding.

“Team chemistry has changed a bit considering we lost 13 seniors last year,” senior and captain Nick Canzoneri said. “Even with new players coming into the team and filling important roles, this team is a family and not many other teams can say that. Being a family is our strength.”

Many of the players taking the spots of graduating seniors are underclassmen, which could be expected to hurt the team dynamic, however, the team still remains welcoming to all despite age.

“This year our team is really young, with almost half of our players being underclassmen, including both of our goalies,” senior and captain Jack Gingrich said. “The goal from the beginning was to connect and make everyone feel a part of the team.”
As well as the team dynamic changing, the playing style has also adapted to maximize the players’ strengths.

     “Last year we had big, fast, and strong kids that we could pass the ball over the defense and run into it,” Canzoneri said.“This year is the opposite, we are a small and technical team that can move the ball quickly on the ground.”

The team began the season with a strong start, however, they endured a few losses which they hope to learn from.

“We had a really good start to the season, going undefeated for our first few games,” Gingrich said. “Recently, we’ve had a few tough matches that we didn’t get the result we were looking for, but we’ve learned from these mistakes and worked on our weaknesses during practice, so we’re hoping to turn this around for the rest of the season.”

The positivity and camaraderie of the team has allowed the players to feel like a family, no matter their seniority or age.

“[The team chemistry] is great,” junior Nathan Rhind said. “We’re keeping up the things we did well last year and all the new players are here. Everyone is really adopting the Algonquin style of play, where we’re all in it together, and we’re really working hard as a team. No matter freshman or senior, everyone’s really involved in the team, and it’s really making this a great experience.”

The team hopes to continue their progress in order to get better and succeed.

“I think it’s really about continuing progress,” Rhind said. “We started out at our benchmark and we have progressed and seen that continue. We recognize that we just have to keep going out every day and doing our best in practice and preparing well for games.”