Photo Credit: Ranveer Singh (

By Zariah Nelson-Ciriaco

Staff Writer

The Hammond Boys Soccer team’s season is underway and there have been some highs and lows but the team is looking forward to victory. 

Varsity head coach Elliot says “The season has been decent” and his goal for this season is to finish with a record of 500 or above, but it’s looking real tough right now.

Coach Elliot talks about how his captains (Marcus Lee, Drew O’Neil, Grant Pisone, and Carlos Perez) have good leadership skill qualities he says, “they tend to have a good pull on the team, if they say something a lot of people will follow their lead. They’re notable figures on the field and they are guys you can easily pick out when you are on the field.” 

Captain Drew O’Neil shares some of his goals and says “some goals I have for this season are, I want to make all counties and I would like to get the team back up to a .500 record”. Senior Derek Boakey says his most successful season was last season where the Bears had over 500, meaning they won most of their games. Fingers crossed the team gets back on track and accomplishes their goals! 

Drew O’Neil is a Junior captain who is consistently showing leadership skills, he says “Some things I’ve learned about teamwork from previous teams is that on every team there needs to be a leader and someone that is ready to step up when nobody else wants to”. When he is asked how has his past teams made him a better player he says “My past teams have made me a better player through just pure experience and also the fact that I have played at a pretty high level previously so I have gained good knowledge of the game to share with my peers”.