The one word students came up with the most when asked to describe the Half Hollow Hills West boys soccer team was excellence. The boys soccer program at Hills West has been successful for years under the head coaching of Doug Gannon.
"I remember the team winning ever since before I was on varsity. They had been successful even before that. It is like a tradition for us to have winning seasons," said senior player Dylan Udell.
It is true that Hills West Soccer has been tremendously successful the past couple of years, with their four straight league wins, an undefeated record in league last season, and even a Suffolk County championship in 2007, where the varsity made it to states, but lost in the first round.
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At the moment Hills West is 4-0 on the season, but the boys won't be satisfied until they reach their most important goal, another trip to states.
"That's our main goal," said senior captain Michael Primiano. "We want to prove that we're the best group of guys this school has seen. Teams have been good in the past, but the difference between us and them is that we can be great."
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Primiano also mentioned the team's intensifying rivalry with Brentwood High School.
"We lost to them in the Suffolk County championship last year. As a team we want so badly to see them on that same stage this season, only with a different outcome, Hills West on top."
These high expectations are well deserved, because up until this point in the season, Primiano--who is also the starting goalie--has only been scored on once.
The team also has three other captains, Justin Connor, Taylor Brugna, and Ben Beiderman, as well as another four returning seniors--so the odds of the team winning it all is not that far out of reach.
"We are just going to take it game by game and keep on our grind," said Connor. "We have enough experience to know exactly what we have to do to win. If we can do that, we can win it all for sure."
Their next game is on 9/21 at 4 pm against Huntington. Stay tuned right here for the results.