Coming off a third consecutive Inter-Ac title, Haverford soccer has been working towards a fourth. The season is winding down now, leaving the team with a 12-4-2 record and a 2-2-1 Inter-Ac record.
This ties them for second with Episcopal, and a game behind Penn Charter. Who’s crowned Inter-Ac champion will all come down to the final day of the season.
“If we win on EA Day,” Fifth Former and Captain Brody Collins said, “and Penn Charter loses, then we will win the Inter-Ac title.”
“It has been a pretty good season.” Sixth Former and Captain Anthony Costa shared, “We have improved a lot since the beginning of the year. We graduated a lot of seniors, especially in the back line, and we had to figure it out. There has been a lot of growth from juniors and sophomores.”
Fifth Form Captain Finn French agreed. “We are a much younger team, less experienced than last year. We have lots of new players and lots of guys stepping up. Will Kelly, for sure, did not play a lot last year, but he is stepping up now. Hudson Coulson as well, [whose] stepped up and also moved from right back to center back.”
Head Coach Mr. Keith Cappo also added his thoughts.
“Finn French has been one of the best players in the league, being 8/8 on PKs, as a center midfielder. Costa has been great, even though he was out for the beginning of the season, and Chris Burnetta has been pretty good as an outside back and midfielder. Also, Haven Hoilett, whose brother played for the team, has been much more impactful this year.”
“We have improved, playing more of our style, not depending on mistakes.”
Coach Keith Cappo
Mr. Cappo then explained how the team itself has been playing.
“We have started to put together full games. We started a lot of games where we started off very, very slowly. We have improved upon that as we are not letting in early goals. We have scored quite a lot of goals, not as expected. We have improved, playing more of our style, not depending on mistakes.”
He then concluded by explaining how the league itself has changed.
“We have had many games where we have scored 3-4 goals, [in comparison to] last year, when we were more defensively solid. The league itself is much more dynamic this year. We still need to improve our defense. Goals have been up across the league for all teams, and we need to lock it back down.”
The team’s keeper, Fifth Former and Captain Graham Costello, shared the team’s method for fixing the problem.
“We have really worked on improving our work ethic and playing as a team. The first half has been a clear weakness. We address it by making sure we have a good practice the day before and a good warmup before the game, as well as by keeping a constant work ethic. There are a lot of people in new positions trying to do their job. I am helping them improve by communicating and helping our team understand their defense positions better.”
As Coach Cappo noted, the offense continues to remain a strength.
“Our offense was definitely a strength coming in,” Costa said, “it’s still our strength. We have put a lot into building the team off the field. Meetings, figuring it out to just keep scoring goals.”
The team, fortunately, has not had many injuries. The only major one was to Costa, who was out right up till the first Inter-Ac match.
“It was kind of tough watching the team and not being able to do anything about it. I had to take a step aside and see them grow together. It helped me be motivated to come back. I was able to focus on filling in the gaps, getting the water before practice, and helping the kids see the roles. Kind of like a coach but a player at the same time. Helping the team form.”
Haverford also has a major difference from last year: the size of the team members themselves.
“We are just physically smaller,” Collins said, “We have lots of smaller guys who are under six feet. We lost two six-four centerbacks last year and the year before that. It shifts how we play as we don’t have the same power in corners.”
But the team does not see it as a disadvantage.
“We just have to remind ourselves that it’s our 11 vs their 11.” Brady continued, “Knowing that, you can’t take a game off. If you do, then they will take that with their size. We have fast guys, and pace is our strength, as we are more mobile. We have to play with our edge. When we do, the game comes down to toughness and who wants it more.”
One other factor will hopefully give Haverford an advantage on EA Day: the size of the field.
“Our field is a lot smaller compared to EA’s,” Costa explained, “I like playing on our field. Going away will always be tough. You have to pull through on their field, in front of their crowd. We work well together on small fields as we are used to it. Not as much space, and it will get a little more technical.”
“I want my team to want the ball, work on getting it on defense, and keep it on offense. If we can do this, we will do well.”
Coach Keith Cappo
Costello agreed. “I think having a smaller field is an advantage, as every school has a bigger field, which allows our team to play our style of play compared to theirs.”
As the team begins to focus on EA Day, Coach Cappo has not changed his philosophy.
“I want our guys to focus on controlling the controlables,” he stated, “Do the easy things really well. I want my team to want the ball, work on getting it on defense, and keep it on offense. If we can do this, we will do well.”
This is a philosophy echoed by Collins, who likes the team’s mentality.
“We are doing everything we can. Following EA’s tactics. Copying them. It hurt losing to Penn Charter. It really hurt. Lots of guys were extremely upset. We will use it as fuel. They stormed the field in front of us. We all took a mental snapshot. This will give us the mentality to go out and fight.”