By Greg Ruda ’13, Staff Writer 

Men’s soccer had a difficult season.  At times they were fantastic, and at times they were average.  This can be attributed to the extensive amount of injuries that the team suffered.  Three of the team’s best field players, Daniel Eatroff ’13, Chris Cutri ’11, Charlie Bushnel ’13, missed significant time due to injury and illness.  Tom Henshall, a key senior, sufferred from persistent injuries as well, and and Ben Austin ’12, injured his quadriceps early in the season, only recovering in time for the season’s conclusion.  The team also suffered when goalkeeper Dillon Denehy ’13 broke his wrist early in the season.

Despite all these setbacks, the Minutemen kept their heads high and fought through each game.  Coach Cali commented that,’’ We all thought this team had great potential, but for various reasons, we have underachieved.  We’ve only had 2 or 3 games when we had all our players healthy and available.  It’s difficult because a team with this much talent has not been able to perform to their best ability consistently due to injuries.”  These difficulties were reflected in the team’s seemingly average record, but the playoffs proved a chance for the Minutemen to finally demonstrate their true strength.

The team fought with new determination in the playoffs, with highlights that included the run against Princeton Day School in the preps, and knocking off rival MKA to advance into the State Sectional Finals. Though they eventually lost this game to Oratory 3-1 in Perth Amboy, the team made a great playoff bid, finally demonstrating their true potential.

Senior captain Tom Henshall reflected on the season just before playing Princeton Day School by saying,” I think we’ve had an up and down season.  That being said, we still have managed to reach states and are into the second round of preps so we could have a good postseason run.”

Another positive for the team is that its future is certainly bright.  Next year the team hopes to gain some of the injured players it lost this year, and to benefit from the aid of some promising middle school prospects.  Matt Cowen, a sophomore goalie on the team, said, “Next year we hope to build off of the positives of this season.  Although we are losing six starting seniors, we are going to have a strong core of players, especially in the midfield and up top.”

Many of the offensive players next year in particular will be returning players, and will stand be a force to be reckoned with.  Nick Williams ’13, believes “Our offense should be very good next year with Daniel Eatroff’s crossing and shooting ability, Zac Wildmann’s shooting, dribbling and creativity, Jake Okinow’s speed, and Charlie Bushnell and Daniel Wilf’s superb combination play.”  This is not to leave out Nick Williams himself, who is the team’s leading goal scorer with twelve goals this season.   While the men’s soccer team finished the season with a lot of positives in the playoffs, they look forward to even brighter prospects in the future.