Sports
Promising Athletes Make Up Shawsheen Boys' Soccer Team
Coach Dick Barriss feels offense is strong; looks to improve inexperienced defense.
Head soccer coach Dick Barriss had his hands full at the Shawsheen Tech boys' soccer tryouts.
The turnout was so large there were three different mini-scrimmages going on at once and male soccer players as far as the eye could see.
Nearly 60 boys tried out for the junior varsity and varsity teams, and only 40 of them will be wearing a Rams uniform in the upcoming fall season.
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Varsity co-captains for the 2010-11 season are seniors Kris Galdi, Brett Hanlon, and Dan Serrano, as well as junior Mike DiGiorgio. Galdi, Hanlon, and Serrano play forward and will be leading the teams' offensive efforts this season, while DiGiorgio controls the midfield.
A lot of experience seems to occupy Shawsheen's offensive end, but the defense lacks in the experience department.
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"We will need to improve our defense since we are real young on defense as of right now," Barriss said.
Barriss thinks seniors Sean Plunkett and Jimmy Ferreira also have potential to positively impact the season.
Shawsheen has a solid junior class, and standout players include Robbie Goodell, Sal Nicco Riparo, Nick Sheehan, Dan Suarez, and Alex Terk.
The underclassmen are also expected to cause some damage, including Brian Gallagher (sophomore) and T.J. Barriss (freshman).
Promising athletes of the Shawsheen Class 2014 are Barriss and Andrew Sutton, who were the only freshmen to make the varsity squad.
Barriss is going on his 11th year coaching at Shawsheen, and describes last season as somewhat of a transitional year. Nonetheless, the squad came in third place in the upper division of the Commonwealth Athletic Conference (CAC), and also qualified for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) State tournament.
"I view last year as a transition year. We suffered some key injuries, but we still qualified for the state tournament," Barriss said.
The Rams were seeded 19th in the tournament and took on 14th seed Triton Regional in a preliminary round. Shawsheen was defeated 4-0, making a quick exit from the playoffs.
The previous 2008-09 season proved more successful for the Rams when they took home the Voke State title.
Shawsheen's first game will be Sept. 11, and with the new season comes another run for the state title, as long as the squad stays healthy.
