Sports
Coach: Warriors Soccer Team is Feisty, Strong and Competitive
Preview of the 2011 season of the Comsewogue boy's soccer team.
The Warriors hope to build upon their ‘off’ season of 2010–a year in which they did not win a New York State championship as they had in 2008 and 2009.
Last year, the Warriors finished with an 8-4 record in League IV and were 8-7 overall but were bounced early in the playoffs by West Islip 3-2. This year they return once again to League IV where they finished second to Hills West a year ago.
Head coach Dan Costello again returns to the helm and his Warriors have something to prove in 2011. But early signs have not been promising. The Warriors wrapped up a summer campaign in which they won just one game. But on a plus note the Warriors lost only three starters from 2011 and return eight of 11 starters from a year ago.
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“I think that we should have a pretty good year,” said Costello. “Our goal is as always to make the playoffs. I think this team is a playoff team. We’re still in League IV and still an AA team. We’ll try and put the best product out there we can. But this team is feisty, strong and competitive.”
Key players in the Warriors soccer scheme are All Suffolk County senior midfielder Alex Healion who notched 13 goals and tallied seven assists last year, All-Conference senior forward Jesse Inkles who added five goals and four assists in 2010, All-Conference senior goalie Chris Friedl, senior defenseman Devon Cruz, All-League senior midfielder Chris Colucci and senior All-League defenseman Chris Wiley.
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Furthermore, six of the returning players were a part of the Comsewogue New York State championship run with three of them on two State championship teams. “I think that is important because they have the knowledge of what it takes to get there,” said Costello.
As for his team’s prospects in 2011 Costello adds, “I think will be strong up the middle. We have solid backs and a potent offense. We just have to see how things jell together. We are looking to be successful and then we’ll take it from there.”
But can the Warriors look past a flat summer performance and build upon their playoff appearance of a year ago? “We were very young last year and we came in second in a new league,” said Costello. “I think that’s pretty successful although we were all disappointed when our run in the playoffs ended – you always want to go further.”
Teams challenging the Warriors this year will be defending league champion Hills West, Bellport, Hauppauge and Huntington. Hopefully the Warriors can return to championship form in 2011.
Comsewogue opens their season on Saturday Sept. 10 when they play a non-league game at Byram Hills from League I. The Warriors open league play 10 days later, on the road, when they square off against Deer Park. Their first regular season home game is slated for Thursday, Sept. 22 against Hills West.