Foxes, Quakers, Look to Start of Their Soccer Seasons

Fox Lane

Fox Lane coach JR Pouncey is confident that his team will improve on its 4-11-1 mark of a year ago, which qualified it for the Section 1 Class AA tournament, where it lost at Arlington 3-0 in the out-bracket round.

One reason why Pouncey feels so good about his squad is that he has senior Michael Gourd in goal.

“Michael is an exceptional athlete,” Pouncey said. “He can play in the goal or on the field. He is able to read the game very well, he has great hands. He was a big reason why we made the playoffs last year and will be a big part of our success this year.”

Gourd is able to do what he does because he is vocal and reads the game very well.

“He kind of runs the team from the back,” Pouncey said. “He can see everything. He knows what he wants, he can organize things. He has great hands, he is very athletic, he can really move around the box and cover the whole goal. He is just a very smart player who will stop a lot of shots.”

Senior center-midfielder Andrew Browne will help the Foxes with his great playmaking ability. He is able to possess the ball and control the flow of the game.

“Andrew is very passionate, he loves the game, he’s athletic,” Pouncey said. “I am looking for him to control the middle of the field and be more of a playmaker. I am looking for him to get the ball to our forwards. He also has a great shot so I am hoping to get him into the attack as well.”

Senior forward Simon Abranowicz gives the Foxes someone who has the knack for finding the ball and finding the back of the net.

“He’s been a solid front-runner for us for several years,” Pouncey said. “We are looking for him to be our leading goal-scorer for us this year.”

Fox Lane will open the season at home at 4:15 p.m. Sept. 7 against Ossining.

Greeley

The Quakers are coming off a winning season, where it went 8-7-2 a year ago and earned a berth in the Section 1 Class AA tournament. There, as the visiting No. 11 seed, it lost a double-overtime thriller to No. 6 North Rockland 2-1 in a first-round matchup.

Greeley’s goal was scored by Conor Gustafson, who has since graduated.

The Quakers will start this season at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at Walter Panas with a clear goal in mind of hosting a first-round game this season.

“Our goal is to come away with a high playoff seed so we can play some playoff games at home,” senior striker Jeremy Kesselhaut said. “We want the community to come out and be able to take pride in watching us play.”

“Last year we were barely above .500, this year we want to be well above that,” Kesselhaut said. “We want to win at least two-thirds of our games.”

Greeley coach Adam Borman shares Kesselhaut’s enthusiasm.

“We just want to create a unit, build chemistry and hopefully that will lead to us progressing to the sectional finals,” Borman said.

Kesselhaut is one of the Quakers three senior co-captains, with the other two being center-midfielder Robby Attia and central defender Mitch Silver.

Kesselhaut gives the Quakers speed and with that he has the ability to create and finish.

Attia has a high soccer IQ in addition to the ability to create.

“He is just one of those types of players that makes everyone else around him better,” Borman said.

Silver will provide strong defensive play on his side of the field.

“All three of them are going to be good leaders,” Borman said.

Two other key Quakers are junior central defender Josh Kogan and senior central midfielder Josh Rosen.

Kogan is a very versatile player who knows the game very well and knows how to position himself.

Rosen is going to be the Quakers playmaker.

“He has great vision and awareness,” Borman said. “He also has the ability to make everybody else around him better.”