Fall 2011 Preview: MacArthur Boys Soccer

This year’s rendition of the MacArthur High School boys soccer team can be summed up in one word: “new”.

Yes, there are players returning from last year’s team that went 0-12-2. But their new coach, Eric Schmidt, believes that his team can be better.

Schmidt, a coach for 10 years at the club level, worked to get some of those teams ranked nationally as director of the Massapequa Squirts youth program. He hopes to bring some of that success with him to MacArthur, and it all starts with a new team attitude.

“The biggest thing is buying into the same style of play,” said the new coach. “If everyone’s on board, if everyone’s disciplined in following that play, then for good or bad, everyone’s going to [do] the same right things and the same wrong things.”

Part of the mentality change is a commitment from Schmidt’s players that they will at least outwork the rest of the teams in their league. The idea starts in practice, where the team is outside regardless of the weather.

“We may not have the best team, but we’re out here every day,” said senior captain Matt Perini. “We’re out here practicing in the rain, practicing in the mud, rolling around in it and tackling each other just as hard as we would in a game.“

“Just a lot more hard work,” said senior captain Kenny Balling. “If you work hard, you’re going to win games. That’s the big motto of our season, to make sure that we’re the hardest-working team in the conference.”

The team’s new system will run out of a transitional 4-5-1 formation, which helps the team organize itself better in its own end. It’s a change that impressed Perini. “Without defense, you don’t win games,” he said. “With this defense that he’s applying, I feel like we’re going to win a lot more games.”

Winning is something coach Schmidt is focused on doing. He knows that it won’t be easy, but as long as his team starts believing in themselves, he expects things to turn around. And they’re starting to believe.

“It seems like there’s a fire in us,” said Balling. “We really want to do well this season because of what happened last season. We don’t want that to happen again.

 “In the short period of time that I’ve seen these boys, they’re coming together,” said coach Schmidt. “This is not the same MacArthur soccer that people are used to seeing. I definitely expect some jaws to drop.”