November 9, 2001
by Teddy Kider

Sophomore Max Ostrov battles with Ben Rupert against Queen Anne on Oct. 5.

The boys varsity soccer team, composed primarily of underclassmen, concluded its season on Oct. 30, with a loss to the St. Anslems Panthers in the second round of the playoffs.

The 19 member team consisted of nine freshmen, seven sophomores, one junior and two seniors, one of whom was Yossi May, who injured himself during preseason play and was unable to compete for the majority of the season.

The Lions finished the regular season in seventh place in the PVAC, with a record of 3-6-1. They also had a 1-1 out of conference record, with a win against the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy Cougars and a loss to the Takoma Academy Tigers.

The team won its quarterfinal game, 5-0, against the Barrie Day School Mustangs on Oct. 25 but lost against the Panthers five days later by a score of 4-0.

According to senior Liav Dahan, despite the Lions’ performance and early playoff loss, the team did better than could be expected considering their lack of experience.

“I’m happy considering our team is very young,” said Dahan. “I think we have done more than was expected by Coach [Barry] Gudelsky and by others.”

Sophomore Danny Lieber added, “I am happy with the season that we had. Our whole team was basically freshmen and sophomores. Our team could have been a junior varsity team.”

Sophomore Danny Lieber traps the ball

According to sophomore goalkeeper Josh Goldstone, Gudelsky tried to teach the young team skills throughout the season that would help it win games.

“Coach tried to get us to use our strikers more and to have more fluidity on the field,” said Goldstone. “We’ve come a long way from the beginning of the season.”

Gudelsky feels that injuries contributed to the mediocre season.

“Unfortunately, May has not been able to run a full game for most of the season due to a preseason injury during a tournament in the fall,” said Gudelsky.

He also feels that the team needs more leadership and players need to work harder in order to improve.

“Leadership on the field has been a little tough to acquire. The only way this team can get better is if the players get in shape before the season starts.

“Some of these guys need to play soccer more than just during the school year,” he said.

However, Gudelsky believes that the future looks bright for the boys varsity soccer team.

“Next year is clearly going to be very exciting,” said Gudelsky.

“We’re only losing two players from this year’s team, and we’ll have a lot of players with one season under their belt.”