Hackley Varsity Varsity Boys’ Soccer made tremendous progress last season, despite the loss of Senior captain Patrick Wertimer due to a foot injury in the first week of the season.

According to Coach John Gillard, the team’s success can be partially attributed to their positive mentality and enthusiasm for the sport, making practices fun and the games are incredibly exciting.

“The team dynamic this year was really fun,” Senior Matt Braver said. “There were 10 seniors who were all very close and team was very similar to the one last year so most of us knew each other well.”

Gillard had high hopes going into the NYSAIS tournament. “Matt Braver has twenty-six goals already this season and will certainly add to this in the postseason making him a real threat to all opposing defenses. Our win over Dalton should guarantee us a tournament seed so it is now a question of who we are to play. The team is confident that they can advance and the team is well prepared,” he said.

The boys soccer team placed into the NYSAIS tournament as the sixth seed and played Riverdale on Wednesday. They, unfortunately, lost after a hard fought game, with a final score of 3-1.

“NYSAIS did not go as we had hoped,” Braver said. “We lost a tough game to Riverdale who is our main rival. We had already beaten them twice earlier so beating them a third time would have been especially hard. Going down to Riverdale for the game to play them added more difficulty and the crowd was a large factor.”

While the Boys’ Soccer Team did not win NYSAIS, they did, in fact, make history. “We did two things I’d never done in my four years,” Braver continued. “We beat Riverdale twice this year and won away at Poly. There was a lot of success this year so even though our season ended early it was still a great one.”