Boys' soccer: Warwick learns winning Section 9 title 'is not easy'
WARWICK — On a sunny Wednesday morning at Warwick Valley High School, boys soccer coach Denis O’Connor shared a very important message to his team as they sat on the bleachers at the beginning of practice and tryouts.
“It takes hard work,” he said. “It’s not easy and it’s not going to be given to you — you have to earn it. It’s very hard to win a Class AA championship. There’s a lot of schools bigger than we are and you have to earn it, you have to work hard and it’s not going to be given to you.”
There are more than 60 tryout participants this season as the Wildcats open the start of a new season in an attempt to defend its Section 9 Class AA championship, after a 2-0 clean-sheet victory over Newburgh Free Academy in the title game last season. It was the team’s first section title since 2017.
The Wildcats have eight returning starters and some very good players coming up, O’Connor said. It’s a senior-led team this year.
Returning seniors are Austen Browning, Harrison Coard, Keiran Gilson, Ramon Irizarry, Jake McGowan, Cesar Polonia, Carson Rother, Trevor Stevens, Luke Tannar, Edgar Torres, Kayden Zachgo.
Last season the Wildcats finished 13-1-1 during the regular season and will look to build upon that in this year’s slate.
“Our goal is to repeat as section champions and make states again, that’s always the goal,” O’Connor said. “But it’s never easy. I talked to them at the beginning of practice today and said how extremely hard it is to win a section title in boys soccer in Section 9 because the competition is so good. Monroe-Woodbury is always good, Newburgh Free Academy is always good and there are a bunch of teams who are always competitive. Everybody in Class AA is good, so it’s not an easy road to get back.”
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Last season: Warwick blanks Newburgh for Section 9 Class AA championship
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Warwick will be led by senior midfielder Jake McGowan, who was on the 2021 Varsity 845 All-Star first team last season.
“Jake is the engine,” assistant coach John Van Pelt said. “He possesses the ball, he passes the ball, he can finish. He can move the ball. He’s the center midfielder and he’s the guy that everything goes through.”
McGowan said it is very exciting to be back to practice and preparing for the upcoming season to play for his school with the people he grew up with. He added the title run taught him some important lessons.
“The championship run from last season taught me individually that nothing comes easy,” he said. “It takes hard work, resilience and discipline. As a team we learned how to work together very well and set goals for ourselves and stayed focused throughout the entire season.”
The captain added he is looking forward to some of the young, talented players the team has gained this season and hopes to have even more success than last season.
Senior defender Trevor Stevens said he has high hopes for the team this season as well. He described his game on the pitch.
“Defensively I like to play pretty reserved and pretty fundamental with how I mark the offense and stay on them,” he said. “I’d say the team that I most watch is Manchester City.”
The team also features senior midfielder Carson Rother. Rother explained he tries to play like N’Golo Kanté of Chelsea.
“He’s just fast and gets back and plays in the middle as well,” Rother said. “He’s box-to-box, so I try to be like him, get back on defense and also help the attack.”
Rother named Kojo Adjei, who was on the top group for team sprints, as a player he is looking forward to watching. Anthony Numssen, Owen Beauregard, Symon Roldan, Zachgo and Browning are all players to watch as well.
The senior also learned a lot from the team’s section championship win last year.
“It was tough,” he said. “I learned that there’s a balance between how much you goof off and how much you can have fun and how much you have to work and be serious. So I think if we find that balance in this season, we’ll be pretty good going into it.”
Twitter: @MKramerTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Boys' soccer: Warwick learns winning section title 'is not easy'
