By Mason Walls
Staff Writer
The Hammond Boys soccer team is off to a solid start to the season so far, going 5-5-2 after finishing 5-9-1 last season. Head Varsity Coach Elliot had this to say about the season so far; “We have made a lot of mistakes, and shot ourselves in the foot, which lead us to our record this year.”
Coach Elliot also remarked “We could have had 3 or 4 more wins if we avoided these mistakes, but as I tell my players it’s not about peaking early… but later in the season so we can be in the best position for playoffs.” A goal for the rest of the season set by the Coach is to “Try and win the games with the teams around them in the standings and make the games with better rankings more competitive.”
Here at Hammond we build a culture and that starts with leadership and the coaches and captains are the ones who show their leadership. Coach Elliot talked about the roles the captains play saying “ The biggest role I give my captains is holding the expectations high, and holding the same standard for everyone and making sure we live by those standards.”
Elliot O’Neil is a Senior captain who is constantly showing leadership, when asked about what it means to be a captain he said “the most important part of being captain is being a good role model for the other players.” This shows the players and coaches attitude to building a respectful hard working culture around Hammond soccer. Another way the players build a culture is through spending time together after games, though getting food together after games to going to the field on the weekends they find ways to grow their connection as a team.
The Bears kicked off the first game of the season with a close game as they played Reservoir, but ultimately ended with the Bears losing 3-2. The next game was another nail biter finishing a 1-1 tie against Centennial. Following that, the team squared off against Winters Mill ending in a triumphant 6-5 Hammond Victory where Captain Elliot O’Neil scored an unreal 5 goals. Eliot had this to say when he was asked about his performance, “I was just thinking about doing whatever it takes to get the win.”
A major part of the team is the depth the team has on the bench, as Coach Elliot went on to say “It’s always next man up, so if someone goes down with injuries or someone gets suspended, and there’s always room for someone who didn’t expect to get playing time to step in to have their roles expanded and to always be game ready.”
Following the eventful Winters Mill game the team played Mount Hebron which ended up being a tougher one as the boys lost 3-1. Next, they played against Oakland Mills where Hammond went on to lose in another close match 2-1. The team knew they had to change something as they responded with a huge bounce back win ending in a 8-0 blowout over Long Reach. In the following three games they went 1-2 with a pair of tough losses to River Hill and Howard, and another big win over Atholton.
Defense is a crucial part to any great soccer team and leading that effort is the goalie Charlie Moskov who has to put his body on the line to make diving plays and block body shots. Another key piece to the defense is the star studded Junior defender Tim Keister, who’s goal for playing defense,“ is not to allow any easy goals into our game.”
One game the boys were looking forward to all season was their mid October showdown with Glenelg. After a heartbreaking loss to the Gladiators last year to knock them out of the playoffs, the boys were hungrier than ever. When asked, Tim Keister and Charlie Moskov both agreed that the team they most wanted to beat this year was Glenelg. With 12 minutes left in the game Junior striker David Adeyokunnu slammed the door shut on Glenelg with a go ahead goal to lead the Bears to a 3-2 victory.
With the playoffs near, the Golden Bears are getting hot at just the right time. With a nice win over Glenelg to finish exactly .500 on the year the team hopes to bring this hot streak with them into the coming weeks.
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