By Charles Pan, Middle School Staff Writer

If you see the MS Boys A soccer team play an opponent, you can see the level of intensity at which they compete at.

This team was composed of eight eighth graders, four seventh graders, and one sixth grader. Led by captains Kiran Damodaran, Matteo Moretti, and Nathaniel Charendoff, this solid team had an amazing record of 7 wins, 3 ties, and one loss. The team has also improved a lot since the start of the season. Pranay Sinha, a 7^th grader on the team, says, “In the beginning we had trouble communicating and positioning. Later on, we started working more as a team.”

Near the end of October and early November, the MS Boys A soccer team entered the GMCJSCA tournament, which was a challenging one with 8 schools competing. The first opponent was Oratory Prepatory School. With the whole team’s strong effort, with the four players from the B team who also came out to contribute, and with Nathaniel Charendoff and Tommy Hales having scored one goal apiece and Kiran Damodaran having scored two, it wasn’t very surprising that Newark Academy won 4-2. Kiran Damodaran, an 8^th grade captain on the team, says, “It was one of the best performances our team has ever put on.”

With high spirits, the MS Boys A soccer team proceeded to the semifinals against the Peck School. The MS Boys A soccer team had lost to Peck earlier in the regular season, and was looking to get revenge. However, Newark Academy got caught flat-footed in the opening 10 minutes, but as Coach Griffin says, “Given that we’d only had one thirty-minute practice since before Sandy, that wasn’t a huge surprise.” After those 10 minutes, however, Newark Academy put the heat back on, they were right at Peck. The game became very competitive, with both teams using all their skill to win the game. Nathaniel Charendoff, another 8^th grade captain on the team, says, “NA controlled the play for the rest of the half, although we couldn’t score a goal.” Newark Academy allowed one more goal in on a penalty kick (it was a tough call by the referee), but in the last three minutes of the game, Nathaniel Charendoff dribbled past three Peck players and passed to Kiran Damodaran, who put it into the goal beautifully past the Peck goalkeeper. Despite the final score of a 3-1 loss, Coach Griffin says, “It was a strong effort for N.A., and I was proud of our finish.”

The regular season and this tournament didn’t just show how much skill the MS Boys soccer A team had throughout the season, but it also showed how much effort they put into their games. Coach Griffin says, “The team did a great job in their games, and I am proud of the way the boys played throughout the regular season.”