Sports
Raiders Get A Youthful Boost This Season
Wellesley boys' soccer looks to defend Herget Division title despite new defensive unit.
Soccer season is under way for the Wellesley Raiders, and they've certainly got their work cut out for them if they plan on topping last season's performance.
Last year, the Raiders won the Bay State Conference Herget division title for the first time in nearly two decades.
"We got our banner up in the gymnasium for the first time in 19 years, so that was a huge albatross off our back," said head coach Colm Hamill.
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The Raiders were able to defeat Natick in the first round of the playoffs but their season ended at the hands of Greater New Bedford in the second round.
This year's team has many familiar faces, but plenty of new ones as well. With 13 returning players, coach Hamill brought in 11 new ones to round out his roster.
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"Picking those eleven players after what we did last year was very, very tough. Even tougher than picking a team from scratch last year, but I feel like I picked the best twenty-four players available to me, and we'll go on from there," said Hamill.
Hamill had quite the selection to choose from, with nearly 100 boys vying for a spot on the varsity team.
"I think the incoming class that we brought in can make the seniors a little bit better, because they can run them out of their spot and just give us some spunk and make the game go a little faster," said senior goalkeeper Andrew Sutta.
"We have a very well–balanced team throughout our lineup. Were going to have kids, freshman through seniors, on our team that are all going to contribute," said senior forward Kevin O'Brien.
The Raiders defeated Weston High School 3-2 in a scrimmage on Tuesday and have two more scrimmages remaining before the regular season starts.
The Raider's offense is the strength of the squad, returning its top two scores, while the defense has to replace three out of four starters from last year's team.
"We graduated three out ofs four starters [on defense] from last year," says O'Brien.
"We've got our two top scorers from last year coming back," says mid-fielder Reyn Wagenaar.
The Raiders goal is to defend their Herget division title and then get deeper in to the playoffs than last year.
Wellesley kicks off their season Tuesday, Sept. 7 at Framingham High School. Their home opener is Sept. 14 against Needham.
