Golden rays of sunlight illuminate Memorial Field’s turf. Cars blur by on Lancaster Avenue, and the golden hue of Casa Del Sol overlooks the field. As the clock strikes 3:15 p.m., the Haverford soccer team members slowly spread over the field.
This is their arena, their training ground, and their second home.
Then the clock strikes 3:30 p.m. Head Coach Mr. Keith Cappo arrives.
“Let’s go,” Mr. Cappo said.
Followed by a half-field lap and a players-only pep talk, the team forms lines; they begin with stretches, then dynamic warm-ups. They have followed this routine since their pre-season in August. Since then, they’ve seized a dominant 16-1-1 record. Additionally, they have carried on their dominance with a second Inter-Ac league championship. On October 27th, the soccer team picked up a 6-0 win against Germantown Academy (GA). Prior to that, GA had upset Haverford 1-2 on October 9th.
“The season’s been great. Only one loss, but it’s all right. We keep our calm composure,” Third Former Dixon Gillis said.
A key reason for success was the unspoken motif for the team: avoiding overconfidence.
“Coach Cappo, he’s been really [reining us in], [as well as] our [assistant] coach, Papi [Harris],” Sixth Former RJ Neilly said. “They just make sure that we know that we might be on a win streak, but [we’re] not number-one in a competition right now. We might be [12-0] or [12-1], but we all know that every game counts.”
Sixth Former Jose Hernandez agrees.
“I’m not trying to look too far into the future, just trying to get one game done at a time,” Hernandez said.
“We know that it’s going to be very close. Every single match matters.”
RJ NeillY ’27
Another aspect of not being overconfident is knowing limits and making an effort to stop injuries.
“We’re really [focused on] stretching before and after practice, keeping us healthy and making sure that we’re ready for every game,” Gillis said.
To close off the Inter-Ac season, the Fords look to take on a highly ranked EA team at their campus on November 14th.
“We know that it’s going to be very close. Every single match matters,” Neilly said. “We all know water polo, football, and golf are all going to be 50-50 matches, so we know that, you know, we have to focus on ourselves. We focus on what we need to do in order to win.”
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