What will the Marblehead High boys soccer team do for an encore?
There were plenty of historical firsts that came out of last year’s state tournament team, including winning the first home postseason game in five years. They were the 10th seed in the final Division 2 power rankings, before beating Somerset-Berkley, the 23rd seed, in a double OT thriller, 2-1. But Wayland, the seventh seed, was able to turn the tables on these Magicians by the exact same score that also took two overtimes to decide the Sweet 16 winner. Nonetheless, coach Elmer Magana’s squad still ended up with a sensational 11-3-6 overall record.
It appears in the early going that there’s a carryover effect from all of that excitement last fall. Magana welcomed 68 players to the first day of practice on Aug. 18, and as a result he’ll be able to employ three teams of quality athletes on the varsity, JV1 and JV2 squads, many of whom are newcomers to the program.
“I’ve been really impressed so far on just how skillful the incoming freshman class is this year,” said Magana.
The veteran Marblehead coach specifically singled out Mitchell Leighton and his great passing techniques to go along with his phenomenal game awareness. Mitchell’s classmate Andrew Halverson has also caught the coach’s eyes, because of his quick reflexes, shot blocking skills and fearlessness in net.
But what makes Magana even more excited about this year’s varsity team is all those returnees, who played on last year’s talented JV1 team. They will be able to plug-in nicely at key positions like goalie and defense.
For such young, talented programs, teams need veteran leadership to teach the newcomers the nuances of the high school game, and the Magicians have that covered quite well, led by captains Jared Halpern, Ilan Druker and Miles Fontela-Tuttle.
Of the 68 players currently in the program, only 14 of them are seniors. There are 15 juniors, and so that means over half of the estimated signups are made up of underclassmen that computes to 22 sophomores and 17 freshmen.
To figure out all of the possible lineup configurations on the three squads, Magana had scheduled four scrimmages against Wayland (Aug. 21), St. John’s Prep (Aug. 23), Lynn Classical (Aug. 27) and Burlington (Aug. 29).
The Magicians won the Wayland exhibition, 3-1. But at this stage of the season, wins and losses are not a priority. “The main goal against Wayland was to see how the new pieces would fit in, while playing against a state powerhouse,” said Magana. “A few mistakes were made, but overall, I was pleased with just how well the new pieces and returnees adapted to Wayland’s quick passing and pressing style.”
The veteran Marblehead coach went on to say, “We were able to adapt and possess the ball for long periods of time in this game, and I was also pleased with the performance of our starting senior goalie Matias Watts-Cruz.”
Miles Fontela-Tuttle scored the first Marblehead goal against Wayland. Junior David Magen notched the other two tallies.
“We learned that if you go on top first, you can control the tempo of the game,” said Magana. “Overall, I just want the new and returning players to develop a chemistry that will help us have a strong varsity team during the regular season in order to once again make the playoffs, which is everybody’s main goal.”
Goalie Watts-Cruz, defender Adam Loughlin, defender T.J. Kelly, center midfielder Erik Badzak, centerfielder Halpern, winger Ilan Druker, forward Fontela-Tuttle and David Magen are Magana’s keys to the season.
The regular season begins at home at Piper on Wednesday, Sept. 3, against Northeastern Conference rival Masco, starting at 4 p.m. They will then be at non-league Everett two days later to take on the Crimson Tide at 4:30 p.m.
