Season Preview: Boys Soccer Hopes To Ride Offense To Fall Success
David Creed •
As Whaler boys soccer head coach Rich Brannigan II prepares to begin his 25th season as the leader of the island’s boys soccer program, he will do so seeking answers on defense and having to replace senior captain Alex Avilov in net, who suffered a leg injury in the spring that will keep him out until late October at the earliest.
But Brannigan’s teams are always competitive and show gradual improvement from the season opener to the season’s finale. They have scrimmaged three times, all on the island, this fall; losing to Tyngsborough High School 3-2 last week and tying Canton High School and Cohasset High School 1-1 in a doubleheader on Tuesday. Already, Brannigan is seeing improvements from his team and is optimistic about some of the veteran players returning for another fall season.
"We've got some pretty good experience coming back with Stoyan (Popov), Aldo (Lemus Castro), Calvin (Guevara), (Alexis) Pena, and a few other guys that played a role last year that we are looking to step up into bigger positions this year,” Brannigan said.
Popov leads the way and will be looking to build off of a breakout freshman season last year where he scored a team-high 15 goals. Brannigan said the talent is obvious when you watch Popov play, but his work ethic and commitment to his craft is even more impressive.
"Stoyan has gotten tremendously better and he works hard on his game in the offseason," Brannigan said. "He puts in the sweat equity. I've watched him play from when he was eight, nine years old, and every year you see a little bit more. But then as the maturity has sat in and he sort of transitioned from the youth player to a competitive high school player, each year I see more and more maturity in his desire to improve as a player. You don't see that in a lot of high school kids. They're here to have fun, but some of them show you a little bit more because of the stuff they do in the offseason, or the commitment they make to their own game, their own fitness year after year. I'm happy for Stoyan. He gets stronger. He gets better every year.”
Guevara is another player who Brannigan believes will be a centerpiece of the offense as one of the Whaler’s top facilitators.
“Calvin is in the midfield and he is a great playmaker," Brannigan said. "He can pull something out of his hat at any point. He's sort of that magician type where you can be struggling and not have much going on when suddenly he makes that amazing pass and pulls that rabbit out of the hat, which is great to have that kind of player in the midfield.”
Defensively, Brannigan believes that is where they may be thinnest on the depth chart. But he said the play of Edvin Valentukevicius and Denzel Tejada has been promising so far, and is hopeful those two players can fill larger roles as upperclassmen this fall in order for the team to enjoy the success they’re capable of.
"We're juggling players around and trying to see what fits, what's the best combination," Brannigan said. "Edvin is the starting center back. He is a really solid center back. It's really hard to dribble past him. His positioning is phenomenal. So having him there holding the center line with last years’ experience was definitely a good stepping stone for us. Denzel did a great job last year and he seems to be pairing pretty well with Edvin, and he's showing some great leadership qualities, which I'm really happy to see out of Denzel. I've seen significant maturation. I'm really, really happy for him and excited to see it. Denzel is a good kid at heart and he's just learning along as any teenager would. He had a lot of learning to do early on, and he's taking it all in and he's showing great stuff his senior year. But he turned the corner last year.”
In net, the Whalers will be turning to sophomore Parker Furtado, who was the junior varsity starter last season. He will hope to translate his previous experience to the varsity level with big shoes to fill in Avilov’s absence. Brannigan said Avilov, who is still a team captain despite the injury, has been helping Furtado prepare for the season ahead with pointers in practice.
“Parker is stepping up," Brannigan said. "He played as the JV starting goalie last year but also got a good amount of time his eighth grade year. He's learning quickly. He's a sponge. He's got a great attitude. He always wants to learn. He doesn't get down on himself. He's kind of always the next play kind of guy, which you need to be as a goalie anyway. With Alex's tutelage and help, giving tips and pointers and some coaching ideas, that'll definitely help Parker speed along to the varsity level. Losing Alex as a whole is a big hole to fill and we are doing our best.”
The Whalers first regular season game is scheduled for Thursday, September 4th at home against the Falmouth Clippers at 4 p.m. You can view their full schedule here.