By Leo Kueffner
Staff Writer
This year, the Hammond boys soccer team was hoping to have a very successful season, especially with the roster they had, with several juniors in their second season of varsity soccer in Howard County, including goalie Mynor Hernandez, defenders Raba Koroma and Josh Feldsher, as well as forwards Abdul Bah and Ethan Shin.
To add to the core of juniors, Hammond had several impactful seniors such as Pavand Zangana, Shay Oyeyemi, and Zachary Boubsil. The team even had a sophomore difference maker, Robel Besufikad. So when Hammond went out of the playoffs in the Regional Semifinals to River Hill, it finished off an underwhelming season. It was underwhelming not because of poor play, not even the disappointing record and final game, but because of how close this team came to winning so many of their games.
Junior Chikamso Okoro said, “A disappointing part of the season was how we went out…”, which goes to show that even in the last game of the season, they were right there and they just couldn’t finish. Game after game, the defense limited the opponent’s attack to such a low level that you would expect to have at least a winning record.
However, on four occasions this season, the Golden Bears lost while only allowing one goal, including their playoff loss to River Hill. Adding to that poor stat, the Golden Bears have drawn three games, two of which were 1-1, and the other 0-0. That alone would be enough for any fan to be depressed. But it’s the fact that against the best teams in the county, they were right there, as in their five games against the top five teams in the county during the regular season- Oakland Mills, Reservoir, Glenelg, River Hill, and Marriotts Ridge- they were only outscored 7-4, including a draw against county champions Oakland Mills.
This just shows how talented and capable this squad could have been; instead, their season ended before November. Looking back at the season and how they played against some of the best teams in the state will just make the players look back at this season as one that can only be referred to as a “what could have been” season.
At the very start of the season, you could see the improvement from the previous year’s team that was getting blown out on the regular. Hammond played two scrimmages ahead of the regular season to gauge their ability and find out what needed to be fixed. Against Eastern Technical, a team that has had an impressive season, they tied, before losing 2-1 to Winters Mill in their last chance to figure things out before the results actually mattered.
To start the regular season, Hammond was scheduled to play their cross-town rivals Atholton, a rivalry game that has been extremely even since 2010, with both teams boasting an 8-8-2 record against each other. Last year both teams had a 3-10 record, including a hard-fought 2-1 battle won by the Raiders. So this year Hammond set its sights on a victory. The Golden Bears struck fast, just five minutes in. Junior defender Raba Koroma put the ball in the back of the net, and Junior winger Abdul Bah ended up scoring the second goal in the 36th minute, which ended up being too much for Atholton to come back from. With Hammond starting their season with a 2-1 win and 1-0 record, the vibes were high, and it seemed Hammond was just getting started. But their next four games were going to be an absolute gauntlet.
The first game of that stretch was at home against eventual county champs Oakland Mills; Hammond ended up coming out of that battle with a 1-1 draw, which is the same result they got the very next day against the very River Hill team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. After three games, Hammond was undefeated, with one win and two ties. Hammond then went on the road for the first time to face Centennial; when they got back to Hammond, they were no longer undefeated after a tough 0-1 loss.
Their luck didn’t get any better when facing off against defending undefeated state champs Glenelg, losing 0-1 yet again. Luckily for them, their next opponent was their rivals, 0-4 Guilford Park. When the game against Guilford Park kicked off, it was clear that Hammond had the upper hand, and they kept it up throughout the first half, going into halftime with a 3-0 lead. Then the second half kicked off, and the way the second half went pretty much summed up the whole season, allowing four late goals to lose 4-3. Hammond knew that their season wasn’t over, though, so they used the loss as fuel to take down Wilde Lake 2-0.
But that was the last time Hammond got a win in the regular season. They would go on to lose four straight to Howard, Long Reach, Reservoir, and Marriotts Ridge, with the Howard loss being the worst of the season, a 0-2 loss. Luckily, Hammond got in rhythm a bit with a 0-0 draw in a very defensive affair against Mount Hebron. Going into the playoffs. Hammond had a 2-7-3 record with just a -5 goal differential. Their matchup in the first round of the playoffs was a 5-7-1 Southern team, a team whose only common opponent with Hammond was also a 2-0 win against Wilde Lake. The game was the first meeting between the two schools since a 2017 preseason scrimmage. The first half was a defensive battle, and the same in the second half, and even overtime was all defense. Their first playoff game went to penalty kicks to decide the winner, and Hammond eventually came out victorious.
For their second-round matchup, they were set to face River Hill, a team they tied with early on in the season. Unfortunately for them, their season ended up finishing earlier than they had hoped for at the hands of River Hill for the second year in a row. If this season was anything, though, it was a sign of what is to come, and you can see why the future of soccer is bright at Hammond High School.
