If Sleepy Hollow is to repeat its success on the pitch of a year ago when it went 14-1-1 during the regular season, won its first league title in 13 years and made it to the Section 1 Class A quarterfinals; it will have do it without its talented senior class from last season.
That's because of the 21 players that played for the Headless Horsemen a year ago, 13 of them graduated.
"Three of them are going to play Division I ball," first-year coach Brian Duschenchuk said. "It's going to be a tough act to follow."
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It's also going to be a tough schedule for Sleepy Hollow to go against this fall.
"We're going to play powerhouses like Ossining and Byram Hills," Duschenchuk said. "When you're playing a tough schedule and losing 13 seniors, that's a big hit. My expectations are realistic. I'm hoping for a .500 or better record to make the playoffs."
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Returning from last year's playoff squad are junior midfielder Matt Praino, junior goalie Robert Bischof, senior fullback Thomas Carraro, senior fullback Timothy Rachlin, senior fullback T.J. Kent, junior midfielder Christian Zhinin and senior fullback John Michael Bogusz.
"I'm expecting low-scoring games," Duschenchuk said. "The strikers and midfielders have had practice but you never know until you get to your scrimmages against other teams. I am pretty confident what I have defensively and in goal, that we can keep the opposing team out of the net."
Sleepy Hollow will look to play a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3 formation according to Duschenchuk, depending on how it decides to set up.
"We want to play three central midfielders, one central midfielder, one left-center midfielder and right midfielder to work off the forwards as well," Duschenchuk. "It's a modified version of what Spain played in the World Cup."
Duschenchuk explained his philosophy on how many players he will carry for the season.
"I'm going to start out with 18 players," Duschenchuk said. "As the season goes, hopefully the playoffs are more and more likely, I will probably pull up three or four more players from the JV."
Sleepy Hollow's top newcomers this year are seniors Mark and Eric Sanchez, who are twins.
"They have really stepped up," Duschenchuk said. "Mark Sanchez is a forward/striker and there were a number of seniors who played forward/striker and because of that he had to play JV last year. He has been a very pleasant surprise and Eric has come in done very well and probably will end up starting at fullback."
Duschenchuk said that another pleasant surprise has been the performance of senior Michael Diaz. Diaz will play right wing or left wing.
Duschenchuk said that Diaz's play in preseason has been very impressive, from the first day of practice Monday, Aug. 23 to Friday, Aug. 27, when cuts were made.
2010 Sleepy Hollow Schedule
9/8 @ SAUNDERS 4:45
9/11 @ ALEXANDER HAMILTON 4:45
9/20 BYRAM HILLS 4:30
9/22 RYE NECK 4:30
9/24 @ OSSINING 4:45
9/28 PLEASANTVILLE 4:30
9/30 @ CROTON-HARMON 4:45
10/2 WESTLAKE 11:00
10/4 KEIO 4:40
10/6 @ BRIARCLIFF 4:45
10/8 OSSINING 4:30
10/12 @ VALHALLA 6:30
10/14 @ PLEASANTVILLE 4:45
10/16 CROTON-HARMON 11:00
10/18 @ WESTLAKE 4:45
10/20 BRIARCLIFF 4:30
