By Noah Tellez
Although the Mashpee boys soccer team has seen huge increase in production and record over the past few years, the Falcons are faced with a huge challenge heading into the 2017-2018 season. The squad lost a lot of depth this season, graduating seven seniors including four that started nearly every game for the Falcons.
This being said the squad only has three juniors returning, proving the team will be very young. However, the upside is outrageous, with eight sophomores returning as juniors whom now have some useful playoff experience. The future is very bright for this young squad, who are looking to return to the South Shore League Semi-finals for a second year in a row.
As for Coach Ed Furtek however, he has other goals in mind. “What are my goals for this season?” he said. “Make the tournament. Win the Cape Cod Referees Sportsmanship Award. Get the highest GPA of the fall sports teams. Win our half of the South Shore League.”
Although the Mashpee boys soccer team has seen huge increase in production and record over the past few years, the Falcons are faced with a huge challenge heading into the 2017-2018 season. The squad lost a lot of depth this season, graduating seven seniors including four that started nearly every game for the Falcons.
This being said the squad only has three juniors returning, proving the team will be very young. However, the upside is outrageous, with eight sophomores returning as juniors whom now have some useful playoff experience. The future is very bright for this young squad, who are looking to return to the South Shore League Semi-finals for a second year in a row.
As for Coach Ed Furtek however, he has other goals in mind. “What are my goals for this season?” he said. “Make the tournament. Win the Cape Cod Referees Sportsmanship Award. Get the highest GPA of the fall sports teams. Win our half of the South Shore League.”
The Mashpee Boys Varsity Soccer team had a year for the history books in 2016-17. They made it the farthest any team had in school history, beating the “greats” as they are called in the soccer community, lead by Romeo Gray and Nate Peterson, and making it all the way to the sectional semi-finals. The underdog Mashpee team first routed Carver, beating the team for the third time in the season. This was a huge momentum boost for the Falcons, who scored three goals despite their offensive woes for most of the season.
However, the biggest triumph in the season and in seasons in most recent history was the next round, in which the seventh seeded falcons played a second seeded Bishop Connolly squad in an away match. The game was extremely close, and neither team scored heading into the final minutes. However, this is when senior midfielder Austin Gray pulled through for the Falcons, scoring on a hustle play beating both the last defender and the goalie. This was easily the biggest win in the season, and most likely one of the largest in the school’s history.
Even though the Falcons lost the semi-final game in a close 2-1 match to rival Cohasset players, this team showed definite promise for years to come.
When asked about his satisfaction in the season, Coach Ed Furtek responded, “Last season was by far the most difficult and in some ways the most satisfying of all. A week before tryouts, we lost two of our three captains (a starting goalkeeper and a two time all-star center back) - one to injury, the other to another sport. Ryan Boyd and Chris Perrone prepared all off season to pick up the scoring slack. Chris Hutchenrider prepared to be the varsity goalkeeper. Felipe Batista was willing to take on a new, totally unfamiliar position for the good of the team. Somehow it all worked and the season started well.”
This season was played in dedication and remembrance to a fallen hero of the Mashpee community, Peter Langler. Coach Langler was a long-time JV soccer as well as varsity and girls coach, and he was the founder of the Mashpee Youth Soccer program. Without the foundation Mr. Langler set, none of the season would have been possible. This is something coach Furtek also addressed, stating, “Pete would have been very proud.”
After all of these positive things coming from last season, there is still much to improve on for the incoming Falcon team. Coach Furtek says he expects the squad to, “I would expect that this year's team has learned their lessons from last year's team, that is, that preparation, sacrificing personal goals in favor of team goals, and working hard instead of making excuses will make you successful.”