After five years, the boys soccer team made history in its first win over Canton McKinley August 23rd. The team, however, did not stop there; the boys kept the momentum going with even more victories this season.The team’s first win began with a goal by junior Bailey Deevers, from an assist by sophomore Shaheen Ghahremani, and ended with a second goal by senior captain Ryan Wilkinson and an assist by junior Benny Shaffer.

Coach Paul Krezminski has been with the team seven years, along with four-year assistant coach and goalkeeper trainer, Christine Srp.

“Coach Paul has stuck with it even during the bad seasons, and helped build the lower and high school level [soccer teams],” said senior captain Jacob Fifik.

Their record finishes at 6-8-1, which the boys credit to their mindset and continuous off season work. Krezminski agrees,
saying they did not stop working from their 2015 season in preparation for this one.

“Everyone stepped up,” said Coach Paul, “Ryan stepped up and everyone followed suit. Everyone had a common goal: team first.”

As their winning record continues to improve, so does the team’s confidence. Coming off of a three-year losing streak, the senior boys decided to step up and push back this year.

“The drive to win and break this endless cycle of loss…pushed the team to heights we had only dreamed of in the past,” said senior Nick Targowski. “This year we set out to accomplish so much more than just winning one measly game; we wanted to win every game. This wasn’t the big talk from years past, this was a need to win… And now we are on our way to having a record breaking season.”

The boys have accumulated more wins this year alone than during Coach Paul’s first six years of coaching combined.

“It was nice to see the boys able to celebrate – they deserve it,” he said.

The team will be losing five seniors before next season. This year’s team is graduating, Rayshawn Dublin, Jacob Fifik, Sidney Nguyen, Nick Targosky, and Ryan Wilkinson. The group includes two captains and several starters.

However, Wilkinson is still optimistic about the team’s future, “I think they will win next year,” he said. “This is the strongest offense we have ever had. As long as they keep control of ball, and keep doing what they’re doing, they will be fine.”

He spoke highly of freshman Max Brace as a key player at midfield, for checking up the field and continuously helping the team finish.

“We’ve changed our mindset about how we want to go about the season,” Brace said. ”We’re not really letting other teams affect us. We just want to go out and win every game we can…We have the potential to do great things for the rest of our season.”