The Greenwich High School boys soccer team had a great taste of success last season and this year’s squad is ready to expand on that and hopefully bring home some titles.
“I think they are going to want to go back to another final,” Greenwich High School head coach Kurt Putnam said. “I don’t think it’s an unreasonable expectation. But our first eight games have probably six of the toughest schools in our league. I think last year should build into their collective experience as a team. If we get to play our strengths, we are going to be a good team and not easy to play against. But all the players need to be on the same page.”
Last year, with a ton of sophomores on the varsity squad and core group of experienced leaders, Big Red kicked it up a notch and advanced to the Fairfield County Interscholastic Athletic Conference championship game for the second year in a row. However this time they fell to Fairfield Ludlowe High School in the title game.
In the CIAC class LL tourney, Greenwich stormed through its competition and advanced to the quarterfinals, where they were defeated in overtime to a tough Farmington squad 3-2.
This year, with the majority of the team back, and with big game experience, Putnam and the rest of the Cardinals are setting their sights high by aiming for a conference and state title.
“That’s the goal here and it’s always the goal,” GHS senior co-captain and last year’s leading scorer Nick Bartels said. “We definitely have the talent to do it. What is great is that last year we were a younger team and made it to the FCIAC finals and state quarterfinals. We have a lot of kids coming back and we have the experience in big games. I’ve been to the FCIAC finals twice and most of the starters here have competed in the FCIAC finals once. If we can get to the playoffs, we have the confidence and experience of playing in those pressure games.”
While the bar is high, Putnam knows there are going to be challenges along the way.
Big Red lost three stellar athletes and leaders to graduation last year. The Cardinals are missing Dan Ozizmir, as he was solid at right back, Paul Quiroga was considered the engine of the team and Chris Galeano was the standout creative player.
“We still have a lot of good players around us, but those three players are hard to replace,” Putnam said. “They were so efficient in their positions.”
This year’s team will be led by senior Nick Bartels and junior Zach Friedman.
“It’s a great experience,” Friedman said. “Last year I looked up to the captains and it was really cool. Now I finally get to lead a team and it’s a great feeling. We want to win the FCIAC and state titles. Last year we were pretty close and this year we are bringing back a good core group of guys. We have some younger kids stepping up and we should be a good team overall.”
For both captains, it’s all about leading by example.
“They are good leaders,” Putnam said. “They need to interact with the players on the field. They need to go out there and do their job and let me worry about when players aren’t doing their jobs. Last year Paul [Quiroga] and Dan [Ozizmir] led by example. They never stopped working and that’s what I am looking for with Nick and Zach. Last year, when we went a goal down, we came straight back at teams.
“We all said that we have to find that again this year because there will be times when things don’t go our way,” Putnam added. “We need to bounce back and find that collective spirit and what defines us as our team’s personality. That’s where you look to your captains to lead by example and get back to basics.”
Putnam said that this year could be challenging for Bartels. As one of the most dominating players in the state last year, all eyes are going to be on the GHS senior captain this season.
“It’s an awesome feeling, but I have big shoes to fill,” Bartels said. “I have had a lot of great captains over the years. It’s fun and it’s an honor that it’s my time to step in their shoes and really try to lead a team to winning. We have a lot of talent on this team and a lot of really good individual players. We are starting to bring it all together now. It’s a young team, but very close-knit. We hang out all the time together and it’s great to be around them.”
As one of the players that will see the ball quite a bit during a game, Putnam said that Bartels can’t try to carry the team on his shoulders all the time.
“People are going to be looking for Nick to light up the scoreboard again,” Putnam said. “I’m sure there are going to be teams that double team him, so we are trying to work on his movement more. It’s going to be about managing his own expectations and frustrations. A lot of colleges are looking at him. It’s either going to be another really successful season and he will play his game, or it’s going to be a frustrating year.”
Junior Jose Romero, who came up clutch for Greenwich during its FCIAC and class LL run with some key saves, will start in net for Big Red this season. In addition, a transfer from Fairfield Prep, Chris MacKay, will see some time in net later in the season.
On defense, junior Inaki Mendive will be returning, with senior Sebastian Oe joining in keeping the ball away from the net. However, with Ozizmir not on the team anymore, the right side of the defense is still up for grabs.
Junior Alejandro MacLean and senior Nico Ortiz will pace the team once again at the midfield. Friedman, junior Flavien Lolo and senior Aldair Garcia will also add to the depth at midfield.
Helping Bartels at the attack will be junior Alessio Fikre, as well as Garcia.
“So far I think we are really good at moving the ball and very strong offensively,” Friedman said. “Defensively we need to work on things a little bit, but when the season gets underway we will be good in both areas. To be successful we need to work together and definitely get that team chemistry and bond that we had last year. We need to be able to rally when we are down and if we could do that like we did last year, we will be a solid team overall.”
Because only three seniors will be starting this season, Putnam said that his team has working harder this preseason.
“The younger players are making mistakes in positions that players from last year weren’t,” the head coach said. “We just have to iron them out. We are trying to get them to play in a certain system. They need to start understanding it and it’s going to be our greatest challenge. There is a lot of quality, but we are talking about getting players to play in a certain way and with a certain style.”
“We are trying to speed up the movement of our play,” Bartels said. “We do a good possession drill in the beginning of practice and then we just basically scrimmage the rest of practice because we want to get everybody used to playing in the new formation that we are playing. It’s looking really good.”
With the team playing a very quick passing and possessing game, as well as getting the attacking players on the ball as often as possible, scoring shouldn’t be an issue for the Cards.
“We are going to score goals, without a doubt,” Putnam said. “We have the players do it and we have enough offensive threat. But if we go back to guys trying to do too much on their own, we will start to look at that frustrating factor coming out.”
When it comes to the goals for Big Red, it’s nothing that hasn’t been mentioned before. In the past decade, Greenwich has played in five FCIAC finals, two of which happened the past two seasons.
“It would be great to play in three FCIAC finals in a row,” Putnam said. “With the success that we have, there’s a bullseye on our back and people have high expectations for us. I hope that we are able to emulate getting back to another final and having the chance to play for it again. It’s going to be difficult, as there are a lot of good teams in the league this year again. Ludlowe is good, Staples, Ridgefield and Trumbull are all going to be there.”
To start the season, Greenwich High School will be tested, as six of the team’s first eight games are against the top competition from the FCIAC.
“They are going to be tough games, but we are looking to win those games and send a message to the rest of the league that we are just as strong as last year, if not stronger,” Friedman said. “We aren’t going to mess around this year. We have all been on a lot of group runs, doing a lot of fitness together and playing soccer at local parks.”
