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A Plethora of Fond Memories for Shoreline’s Liverpool Squad

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The Shoreline Football Club Liverpool’s squad listens to head coach Danny Simpson prior to the start of last week’s game at Greenwich Catholic School. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

By Paul Silverfarb
Sentinel Editor

To say that Shoreline Football Club head coach Danny Simpson will miss his team wouldn’t be completely accurate. For a team that has been together for so long and is considered an extended family to the coach, it’s obvious that the emotions are much stronger.

Last week, the Shoreline Football Club’s Liverpool roster played its last game as a team, as players aged out and will be attending colleges and universities in a few short months. But this isn’t just any team.

“They were the foundation for Shoreline to build our club,” said Simpson just prior to kickoff of the team’s last game as a unit. “They are team that everybody looked up to and the pinnacle of our club. They are state champions, national champions, won EDP leagues and won numerous tournaments. But the way that they play and interact, and the way the mentor our younger players, is amazing. A lot of these boys work at camps and a lot of younger kids look up to them and want to be like them. For these guys to be recruited by some really great colleges and to go and play is a credit to them and it’s been a joy to watch them, coming from young kids to full-grown men.”

This is the first graduating class from Shoreline Football Club. To say they’ve played a few games together is an understatement. In total, Liverpool has played 185 matches. They won 114 of the matches and lost only 41.

The Shoreline Football Club’s Liverpool squad warms up prior to its final game together as a unit. (Paul Silverfarb photo)

“Most of the kids on this team are the top players on their own high school team,” said Alejandro MacLean, a graduating senior from Greenwich High School. “It’ really fun to get everybody form the high school teams on this one team. It’s a lot of fun playing together. We had a good time playing each other during the high school season. So, it’s fun to get all together and play on this highly competitive team.”

A lot of the members of the Liverpool squad started their soccer careers in Greenwich, playing for the Old Greenwich Riverside Community Center U-12 travel program. From there, Simpson said that seven of the soccer stars on the team came over to form the Liverpool squad. Two more players joined the squad in 2011.

“It just shows how much we have come together, where we are going,” Simpson said. “I have had seven players here since day one. A lot have been here from the beginning and it just goes to show you their commitment to each other and to the club and the team, and knowing the process of developing a player from point A to the college level takes time. The core of this team has been around for a long time.”

These players aren’t just from Greenwich. There are a few who are proud to be Cardinals, but others are thrilled to say they were Brunswick Bruins. Others couldn’t be happier to play for Fairfield Prep, while it wouldn’t be a stretch to have a member of the Darien Blue Wave as well.

“I went to Prep for two years and transferred to Darien, so I can attest to the fact that Darien is the best school,” said Pablo Martinez. “But all kidding aside, the banter we have as a team is great. We all talk about how great our high schools are all the time. It just adds to the off the field friendship and tightness. It makes us a better team and our friendship stronger.”

And just like any family, there will be arguments from time to time.

“We always hear it from each other about our high school teams,” said MacLean. “When we came to play against each other, we would always talk smack to each other. It was friendly. Even though the high school season is over and we came on this team, we still have debates on which team is better. Obviously, it’s Greenwich, but some people aren’t as smart to catch on.”

For Clem Carter, a Brunswick School standout and recent grad, the ability to play with talent from around the county made every practice and game exciting.

“I look forward to playing every week,” Carter said. “It’s something special, to kind of meet kids from all over and from all schools. When we are on the field, we are all the same. We are brothers in arms.”

And then there are players like Reed Peterson, who joined Shoreline’s Liverpool squad last year. Peterson knows plenty about the style of soccer played in the Lower Hudson Valley and Westchester County areas, but has enjoyed learning from new teammates and playing a different style of soccer.

“It was a great experience to get to know a bunch of really good players from another state,” Peterson said. “I’m from New York and familiar with the New York area with the elite players from the Lower Hudson Valley, but it’s different coming to a Connecticut-based team with a whole bunch of teams from Fairfield, Darien and Greenwich. It was really nice to meet all these new guys and it was a really good time playing here with a bunch of great players.”

While players come from high school teams from up and down Fairfield County, and the rivalries are intense, when the players converge on the pitch for Shoreline Liverpool, the intensity quickly changed. The jokes and ribbing were still there, but at the end of the day the team was working to improve their skills and become one cohesive unit.

“I think it helps us develop as players,” said Julio Ojea Quintana. “On the field we can be enemies and rivals, but off the field we are always going to be friends. During the high school season, we always mess around with each other, talking about who has the better team. I think it’s really good that we have some of the best talent from Fairfield County all playing on the same team.”

And all the hard work and dedication to the program paid off through the years, as winning has been something that has followed the team.

“We had so many great memories,” Carter said. “We had a soccer tournament in Needham, Mass. and it was the finals. It was a tough game and no one expected us to win. No one really knew who we were. But we won and it was a big time for us. It’s a blessing to be on the team.”

In addition to winning countless tournaments since the program started in 2010, Liverpool won back-to-back Eastern Development Program Division II championships back in 2015 and 2016. In 2016 they captured the Boys U-17 Connecticut State Championships and a year earlier Liverpool won its first Boys U-16 Super Y National Championships.

“Going down to Florida in December of 2015 to win the Super Y National Championships was amazing,” Martinez said. “It was a great trip. The team was really great and it was a really great experience. We played phenomenally and our attitude both on and off the field was amazing. We all hung out together at the hotel and went to games together to watch other teams play. We were really tight and that helped us have a great time, a good attitude and play.”

Winning a national championship is a memory that will never go away, however Simpson said that was a smaller tournament that he will always remember.

“They have been a great team for many years,” Simpson said. “No one can take away the moments when we won the national title, but I remember looking at their faces at the state cup final last year, when Alejandro scored that goal to clinch the game. I looked in their faces and there was relief and deserving. They finally got to the top of the tree, where they deserve to be.”

And they capped off their careers in the program in what has been typical grand fashion. With a tie in their last game as a program, Liverpool took home the Boys’ U-19 Eastern Development Program Division I championship.

“I think winning the league would be a perfect way to top it off,” Quintana said. “We’re going to play a very strong team and it will just sum up our last eight years of soccer perfectly to win the game and the league. We all have great chemistry and we all trust each other. We are like brothers, so that is why I want to win the league so bad.”

And that they did. Playing with the same chemistry and dedication to the team that has made Liverpool into the powerhouse that they are, they were able to net the league championship… their final act as a team with Shoreline.

“This team has been super successful and it’s been a wonderful ride,” MacLean said. “It’s a really special team that has only gotten better and more united as the years have gone by. It’s been a real pleasure to play with everybody here. It’s been an honor.”

While the awards and honors have been wonderful for the program, Simpson said that there is no greater honor than seeing his players continue their soccer career in college. Of 17 soccer players that will be attending college, 12 were recruited and three additional will be walk-on soccer players in the fall.

“It’s something special,” said Carter. “A lot of us have been together for a long time. We have a really great bond with each other and you don’t find that with a lot of teams. We are all like family. It’s hard to express how much I am going to miss this. These guys mean so much to me and it’s going to be really sad to see us break up. But we will talk a lot and help each other throughout life.”

Jamie Becker will be playing at Endicott, while Carter will lace up the cleats for Bates. Zach Friedman was recruited to play at Kenyon, while teammate Sean Gallagher will play at Gettyburg. Chris Mackay and Esteven Restrepo will be close to home, as Mackay will play for Connecticut College and Restrepo will be at Western Connecticut. The trio of MacLean, Ojea Quintana and Martinez will be teammates at John Hopkins.

Biaggio Paoletta will see key minutes for Tufts and Peterson will join Carnegie Melon in the fall. Flavien Lolo was recruited to play at St. John’s. When it comes to walk-on status, Thomas Binaghi will be at New York University, Inaki Mendive will be at University of Pennsylvania, and Paul Ruh will be at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“It’s been a wonderful experience seeing the kids grow, from little boys to men going off to college,” said team manager Rob Mackay, as he watched the team take warm-ups for the last time. “It’s really a great group of kids and for me that is what it’s all about it. Just to see the kids do so well. My son, who is the goalie, has played some of the kids here since they were four-years-old. It started in pre-kindergarten and they have been together for 14 years. Danny has created a wonderful environment to learn, to be disciplined, but to always have fun.”

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