With winter season in full force, the Boys soccer team has started their season off well. The intensity of the season starts before the season even begins.
“We have a very competitive group, that means that the battle for starting positions is intense. The players need to prove themselves every day in order to maintain their spots,” said Boys Varsity Coach Matias Asorey.
Even early in the season, there are challenges to overcome.
“The biggest challenge will be to develop our playing style and be able to rely on that in the big payoff games to come in the future. We have good players who individually can make the difference but so do the other teams. At Gulliver, we play a complete team oriented style and this has brought us a lot of success in the past few years,” said Asorey.
The team unfortunately fell just short of its goal of winning a fourth straight State Championship last year, losing to M.A.S.T. Academy in Regionals by way of penalties. However, with a mix of new players along with some key players from last season’s team, they hope to win one of the best high school tournaments in the country, the Montverde Tournament.
“Montverde, the host, has not lost a single game in the past five years. It would be a huge honor to beat them at their tournament, and we think this could be the year,” said Asorey.
Along with the Raiders and Montverde, other teams in the tournament are Paramount (California), Pembroke Pines, St Paul’s (Louisiana), Tampa Jesuit, The Woodlands (Texas), and Watsonville (California). The Tournament will be held from Jan. 12-14.
Much of the Boys team’s success has come from team leadership. On this year’s team there are a total of six seniors and 13 juniors.
“Santiago Burgos is the leader of the group, he has been our team captain since last season. He earned this honor by always doing what is expected while maintaining a high playing level,” said Asorey.
So far during the season the boys have a record of six wins, zero losses and one tie. Other big games to come during the rest of the season are against Key West, American Heritage and whoever they end up facing in the Montverde Tournament.
