"It's the story of the underdog every year": Boys' Varsity Soccer

“The bus rides are straight rap music. Pregame: rap music. Playoffs: rap music and Hershey’s miniatures,” remarked the boys’ varsity soccer coach, Mrs. Geiger. “But when we stepped off the bus, we were locked in and ready to go.” This, to her, was the perfect descriptor of the 2019 soccer season, in which the Blue Dragons were able to secure the impressive record of 7-6-1. This success was thanks to the strong leadership of the 8 seniors, as well as the addition of 3 starting freshmen, and a number of others who stepped up coming off the bench.

Coach Geiger made all 8 of the seniors captains this season. “I felt that I could lean on any one of them to be a leader. They truly are a special group of guys who are going to be missed. Huge shoes to fill.” While not all of them started, each contributed in different ways both on and off the field. The pre-game speeches by “Coach Kingsley” (#11) gave the underclassmen a sense of leadership and comradery. “Coach Zak was a great leader. All the boys looked to him. He was clearly the heart and soul of the team,” said Mrs. Geiger. Out of the 35 goals Masterman scored this season, Zak Kingsley (12-2) scored 15 and assisted on 9 others. Coaches from other teams knew that #11 would be a headache for them. Theo Wyss-Flamm (12-4) was also a huge asset to the team. He battled a knee injury in the final stretch of the season, but a mix of adrenaline and wanting to perform for his team allowed him to come back as a key player in the district championship game against Devon Prep. To Coach Geiger, he was the reason that the team was able to score the second goal of the game, and she believes that if the clock had not run out, they would have been able to tie the game. He, along with Lucas Jaeger (12-2) and Will Cavalier (12-1) also fell into a leadership role, as they were all senior starters.

Another factor that contributed to the success of the boys’ varsity soccer team this year was the talent of the incoming freshmen. Kai Rosser (9-3), Victor Nordlof (9-3), and Oliver Dmochowski (9-3) all started. Nate Sears (9-3) was also pivotal to the team and came off the bench to make big plays. All were versatile players that came from club team backgrounds. “As a freshman, it was like joining a community. The spirit on the team was unreal. People are just so passionate about the team,” said Oliver. Of course they had to deal with the traditional underclassmen duties (carrying the water jug, setting up the cones, sitting in the front of the bus), but as Oliver said: “it was all worth it.”