Fall 2011 Preview: Island Trees Boys Soccer

This past weekend's opening tournament was business as usual on the field for the Island Trees boys soccer team. The defending league champions demolished their two opponents over the weekend, topping Bethpage 4-0 on Friday and beating Plainedge 5-0 on Saturday.

Under normal circumstances, the results would be the focus for the Bulldogs. But this weekend brought extraordinary circumstances.

"The most important thing for me is that this weekend was about a coach from the district, a friend, who's suffering, and we dedicated it to him," said head coach Graham Radcliffe.

That coach is JV coach Dan Haggerty, who was diagnosed with cancer during the team's off-season. The team chose to dedicate their weekend tournament to supporting Haggerty and his family as he battles his illness.

The program planned to raise money for cancer this year after seeing the disease impact a coach and a parent within the program (the parent passed away due to breast cancer). But once they found out the news about Haggerty, they chose to dedicate the fundraisers to help him. 

At the weekend tournament, they sold ribbons and bows and put special pink balls into circulation for their tournament games. For each goal scored, the team donated money to help Haggerty's family pay for whatever they may need.

"All of that money will be going to his family for what they need at that point in time," said Radcliffe. "It may be Christmas presents for the kids or it may be meals."

What's impressive about this cancer drive is that it takes place during a season where the Bulldogs have high expectations. They won their league a year ago and made it to the county semi-finals before bowing out. Expectations are even higher this season.

"The goal [this year] is to ultimately win the counties," said Radcliffe. "This team is strong enough to do that. That's our soccer goal."

The team has plenty of talent, which enables Radcliffe a lot of flexibility in his 4-3-2-1 attacking formation. (I had trouble deciphering the formation during Saturday's game; when I told Radcliffe that, he said "Good.") That adaptable formation causes havoc for opposing teams.

"With the talent we have, tactically you can come up with different types of formations confuse teams, get teams out of their shape [and] cause some chaos," said Radcliffe. "[The attacking 4-3-2-1] really stresses possession in the middle and using the outside to attack. Other teams don't know how to mark and defend that."

The Bulldogs are prepared when they're on the field, and they want to win. They should win a lot this year. But they're learning in the process that some things transcend wins and losses. They will continue to donate money to Haggerty's family as they score more goals this season.

"In light of everything that's gone on, things have bigger meanings than a win or a loss," said Radcliffe. "There's meaning behind it in terms of wins, and there's also meaning behind it of doing it for a coach and hoping that he can be there in the end in some way to watch."