Boys Soccer Team Building Bonds

It will be their footwork on the field that decides whether the Lincoln-Sudbury boys soccer team is able to repeat the success of a year ago.  So it may surprise some that the Warriors will end their first full week of practice with a healthy dose of manual labor.

"We're putting them out of their element, into another element," coach David Hosford said. 

That element is a 40-acre homestead in Vermont where Hosford's parents live. There, the boys will move bales of hay, stack wood, and help farmers as part of a team-building exercise over Labor Day weekend.

Hosford is in his fifth year coaching at Lincoln-Sudbury, and this will be the second year he is taking his team north.

"We did it last year," Hosford said, "and at the end of the year a lot of the guys pointed to it as a seminal moment in the season."

The 2009 season featured a third straight Dual County League (Large) title for Lincoln-Sudbury, and ended with a loss in penalty kicks to Lexington in the North Sectional Final.  This year's team has many of the same players returning from that successful season, but Hosford said his job is to keep his players focused on this year.

"We would love to have the success we did last year," he said, "but there's a danger in always trying to recreate what happened before, instead of forging a new direction.  We need to make sure our minds are on the present task and not the future task … which could be a challenge at times."

The present task is made easier by the presence of All-American senior striker Cole DeNormandie.  DeNormandie is coming off his second straight Dual County League MVP award, but his coach said you wouldn't know it watching him interact with his teammates.  

"The fact that he has gotten some nice honors both locally and nationally hasn't changed his approach," Hosford said.  "His teammates by and large feel that he leaves that behind when he's with the team."

Senior Eric Steinbrook will be the fourth starting goalie for Hosford in his five years coaching the team, but the coach stressed the importance of controlling the middle of the field.  For that task, the team relies on junior midfielders Forest Sisk, Jacob Weltman, and Chris Kafina.  The team lost two of its four defenders from last year and Hosford is looking at different lineups to fill those roles.

Lincoln-Sudbury is heavy on juniors and seniors, including senior fullback Clay Russell, who Hosford has had the opportunity to coach for a number of years.  He said that allows for easy communication between coach and players.  

"The team overall has one of the highest soccer IQs I've ever coached," Hosford said.  "I can throw a lot of different things at them at any given time.  We can hopefully adjust to something our opponent is doing or force an opponent to adjust to us.  The fact that they've been with me helps them understand pretty quickly what I'm asking of them."

The season starts Sept. 13, at least on the pitch. For Lincoln-Sudbury, the foundation for that season may very well be built with a pitchfork, far from home in Vermont.