Ridgewood Soccer Hopes to Give a Good Effort

The boys high school soccer season is back in session with head coach Craig Mahler making it no secret of what he expects from his Maroon's.

"I want to see maximum effort in every practice, every game and on every play," said Mahler, who will be leading an inexperienced Ridgewood squad–they're returning just four starters from a year ago.

"There's no doubt that we have some young kids on this team who have little to no varsity experience, but it is my job to lead this group and show them exactly what I expect of them. We can not control how big, how fast and how talented our opponents will be, but we can control our effort and intensity level and if we leave everything on the field every time we step out there there's no doubt in mind we'll be successful," Mahler said.

The Maroons are coming of a 2009 campaign which saw them go 11-7-1 before losing in the first round of the state tournament to Livingston. Although they lost seven starters from that team, they do have key contributors coming back including leading goal scorer Griffin Abbott, electric playmaker Yusuf Hamza and defensive stalwarts David Freides and Matt Granski.

Ridgewood will be operating out of a 4-3-3 formation with the hopes of playing quality defense while attacking as much as possible on the offensive end.

Upfront, Abbott, a senior, will be joined by sophomore Bill Maltz and junior Matt Steinberg. Together they will look to offset the loss of the playmaking twin brothers Alex and Matt Sommer, who took their twin talents to Montclair State.

"Griffin is a pure finisher. You give him an opportunity and more often than not, the ball winds up in the back of the net," said Mahler about his striker. Griffin led the team with 16 goals last season.

"Matt and Bill are very effective operating on the wings and both do a great job using their speed to move the ball up the field. As a whole, I expect the three of them to really pressure opposing team's defenses."

The middle of the field figures to be controlled by Hamza, a junior, who after moving in to the starting role helped Ridgewood to run off seven straight wins last season.

"Yusuf does a great job solidifying our offense," said Mahler adding, "He's precise with his passing and really competes for the fifty-fifty balls at midfield."

In the back, Ridgewood will be anchored by Freides and Granski; the team will be heavily relying on the tandem to clear balls away from the Ridgewood goal. Who will be standing between the pipes still remains to be seen, but both sophomore Nick Tselios and senior Russell Tanner expect to figure heavily in to the discussion.

Tselios started for much of his freshman season before missing some action due to a concussion, at which point Tanner stepped in to fill the void.

"I guess it's a good problem to have," noted Mahler on being able to choose between two quality players. "Both have proven they can get the job done so we're going to take a little more time to see how they perform in the scrimmages and make the decision from there."

Ridgewood will begin the season ranked 18^th in Bergen county and will hope to climb the polls as the year unfolds.

"No regrets," said Mahler. "This team has the talent to achieve some positive results in the league as well as the state and county tournaments. We just have to keep up the pressure possession by possession and if we do that, than we should be able to surprise quite a few teams this year."