With a relatively inexperienced team, boys’ soccer coach Brian Rooney said he sees the potential to improve every day.
“I’ve enjoyed working with them a lot,” he said. “They have good enthusiasm for the game. They enjoy being with each other, and they enjoy playing soccer.
“They give the coaches a lot of joy to be working with them,” he added. “It’s going to be a fun year because with this team, they come to play every day.”
Rooney said the team’s strength is defense rather then offense, because “it’s harder to score.”
“We’re going to have to get better at offense. So, we’re doing a lot of work on crossing and finishing.”
He said goals of the team are to come out focused every day, and adjust mistakes at practice.
Commenting on upcoming games, Rooney said, “Having not coached this team before, I’m not overly familiar with the teams.
“However, the strengths of our league are always in our division—Needham, Brookline, Weymouth, Framingham—every team is extremely talented.
“In some other games we have a little better chance, like against Walpole or Milton.”
The Tigers visit Walpole today and Weymouth Monday, and host Milton Wednesday. Friday they visit Brookline and Tuesday they host Needham.
Junior Gianluca Viscomi, a captain with senior Gabe Paul, said he would like to make the State Tournament, and hopefully win it.
“We have a lot of potential,” he said. “If we work together we can make our goal and have fun while we do it.”
Braintree defeated the Tigers 2-0 at home Wednesday.
“We started out strong and moved the ball around well in the beginning,” Viscomi said. “But we lost our finish in the final third, and we didn’t capitalize on chances.”
Thursday, Sept. 10, the Tigers beat Norwood 1-0 in Norwood.
“We just dominated the whole game, and finally at the end we finished and got a goal,” Viscomi said.
Rooney also said he is not trying to fill the late Ucal McKenzie’s shoes.
“He coached really well, and he had a really good relationship with the team,” he said. “We talked as a group about what Ucal brought to the team—energy, enthusiasm, and a passion for the game.
“That’s what we want to bring to our games. Our practice shirts say ‘Continue the Legacy,’ because we want to continue what he started—energy, enthusiasm—that’s what I want to bring to the team.”

This post is tagged Meredith Abrams