After finishing the regular season 9-1-2 and winning consecutive s, most teams would be content heading into the off-season. The boy's soccer team, however, isn't like most teams.
After falling short of a bid for a Long Island championship just two weeks ago, the Cyclones are already preparing to defend their county title, with aspirations to make a deep run in next season's playoffs.
Despite their stellar season, coach Fred Paul said he expects each one of his players to come back hungrier in 2011, including all-county sophomore Mark Romanowski, who finished with three goals and two assists.
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"In the off-season, you have to push yourself to get better with individual goals, and once you get to the season, the team goals will supercede the individual goals," Paul said. "We expect everyone to want to be better. We have all-county guys coming back next year, and if they come back at that same high level, that's a problem. We expect everyone to raise their level of play."
It will be a lofty task for next year's varsity team to duplicate — no less out d0 — as this year's team had senior goalie Deven Khosla and the defense allow just three goals all season, until the finale against Sayville when they saw that number double.
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Junior Taylor Kosakoff, who in three games posted three shutouts, will likely replace Khosla, who contributed 13 shutouts this season. Also in the mix will be promising freshman Thomas Germano. Whomever takes the mantle, Paul said he wants them to play their own game, not replicate Khosla.
"It will likely be Taylor and Thomas competing, but we don't want them to think of it that they are replacing the guy from last year, they have to be comfortable in their position," he said. "Once they find that they will blossom into the types of goalies we've enjoyed recently."
There will also be plenty of turnover on the field, as South Side graduated 13 seniors, including six starters. Jeff Cohen, named to the All-County team, leads a group that also features leading goal scorers Mike Marano, Ben Tetelman and Tom Kane.
"We try not to look at it as losing players or replacing players, but to have players who will now take on a new role," Paul said. "Someone else is going to have to step up and take their roles, so it will be difficult to fill those voids, but we also have a lot of guys returning."
Highlighting the players returning are two-time All-County forward Mark Romanowski, as well as Kyle Morrissey (who led the team with four assists this year), Kevin Cook and Chris Harkins — second on the team with four goals — and defenseman Will Nelson.
Paul said he hopes the losses his returning players have suffered over the past two years will serve as important building blocks to winning a Long Island championship. They have battled through overtime playoff games and played in two championships – and each year the team gets more fundamentally sound as their confidence grows, Paul said.
"I expect our leaders will rise up and understand that it has taken to get to this point over the last two years," he said. "This isn't something that happened overnight, they've been putting in the time and effort for so long and they know how difficult these years have been. It may have seemed easy, but it wasn't."
Now, Paul said he looks to regroup with a strong returning base to bring South Side the championship plaque they've craved.
"Our goal is simple: to win the last game we play," he said. "We've come close the last few years and accomplished some great things. We are appreciative and happy for those, but at the same time, we are not satisfied."
