Their regular season ended Wednesday with a win before a home crowd, but the Vineyard soccer boys are hoping to keep the wins coming as they enter the postseason. Seedings for the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletics Association tournament will be announced Friday afternoon. Games begin next week.
It’s the fourth year in a row that the team has made the postseason, and with 13 seniors on the team — all of whom have been playing together since they were in middle school — the Vineyarders are poised to make a deep run in the tournament. They are 14-2-2 on the season.
Last week as part of their tournament prep, the team watched video of last year’s division three south section semifinal match, which they lost in sudden-death overtime to Medway. On seeing the film, the consensus from the squad was that this year, they were better.
“More mature, more evolved,” said head coach Esteban Aranzabe. Part of the shift in attitude was the seniors’ successful club season in the spring, when they showed they could hold their own against division one clubs and ultimately won the Massachusetts Tournament of Champions.
“That helps a lot,” Coach Aranzabe said.
The team has also gotten a boost from the regional high school itself. Senior co-captain Lee Faraca said that the sport had gained a higher profile at the school over his career.
“Freshman year, no one really cared about soccer,” he said. Football will always be the biggest draw at the school, Faraca said, but people are definitely paying attention to soccer these days.
“It’s nice looking over and seeing teachers in the stands,” he said. New principal Gilbert Traverso has attended every home game.
The stands seemed more full than usual on Wednesday during the final regular season game. It was Senior Day and families filled the bleachers to cheer on their sons. The field hockey squad, also tournament-bound (they will play Medway in an away game Friday) joined the crowd after their practice.
The Vineyard defeated visiting Dennis-Yarmouth 2-0, a win that came in spite of the fact that its leading scorer, Jason Lages, was on the sidelines. The junior drew a red card in a game Monday against Bishop Stang. Coach Aranzabe in turn received a red card after questioning the referee about the call after the game. As a result, the team forfeited its Monday win over Stang, and Coach Aranzabe and Lages will have to sit out game one of the playoffs.
But the Monday setback appeared to cast no damper over the Wednesday match.
Senior Elie Jordi put the team on the board in the 60th minute, lining up a pass from senior Yannick Goncalves after a corner kick and sending the ball past several D-Y defenders. Two minutes later, another strong passing display by Goncalves and sophomore Aksel Cooperrider set up a blast from senior Noah Kleinhenz that shot straight into the back corner of the net. The defense, anchored by senior co-captain Ben Poole and senior keeper Matt Stone, turned aside the Dolphin advances in the second half. Several Vineyard scoring attempts went wide, but the team had scored all the goals it would need.
During stoppage time in the second half, Faraca, who has been injured much of the season, took the field in his leg brace, a Senior Day touch that earned rousing cheers from the Vineyard fans.
Assistant coach Alex Poole stepped in to guide the team in Coach Aranzabe’s stead.
“It went well,” he said after the match. “It’s easy to coach these kids because they’ve kind of got it all together.”
Still, after a lackluster first half, a halftime reminder was needed. “I told them there’s nothing in my power to get you guys to score,” he said. “So please come out and prove it — prove you’re as good as people say you are."
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