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11/21/2019 11:00 PMThe Valley Regional boys’ soccer squad put together a steady season in 2019. The Warriors qualified for the Class M State Tournament and finished the year with an overall record of 7-7-3, taking a little step back from their 10-win campaign of 2018. Valley had to replace the production of several key players this year, but injuries also curtailed the team’s potential to some degree.
Head Coach Mick Fearon believed that with more consistent play and better health, Valley could have been a bigger player in the Shoreline Conference. As injuries kept key players out of action, the Warriors had some difficulty developing chemistry with their constantly shuffling lineup.
“I think this year we were a little bit inconsistent. Some games we played quite well, and others we didn’t perform to the level of even a game before,” Fearon said. “This year we sustained quite a lot of injuries during and prior to the season making a lot of players unavailable. We didn’t have a set squad every game, which is pretty rare.”
Coach Fearon anticipated Valley’s need for big steps forward from players for the team to be successful. In some cases that happened, but the team also had challenges throughout the year. The Warriors made states, but they were unable to crack into the Shoreline Conference Tournament, finishing in seventh place.
“I knew we had to replace a lot of important players with others coming up from JV. That’s a big change for kids,” Fearon said. “It’s been a while since we weren’t in the Shoreline Tournament. We were disappointed in that, but you can’t be in it every year. If you look at the six teams in the tournament, our record against them was 2-2-2. It was all in our hands in the last game, and we lost to Morgan. We were just a couple of points short. “
There were still plenty of bright spots for the Warriors, and one of the most luminescent was sophomore Jake Burdick. He received All-Shoreline Conference First Team honors with 13 goals and eight assists to his credit. Coach Fearon is excited to see what more he can do his junior year.
“Jake had an outstanding sophomore year. Other coaches immediately recognized that he was such a nice player, and you just don’t see too many players like Jake around,” Fearon said. “He went from scoring just one goal last year to scoring 13 goals this season. That’s a big jump in one year, and I’m sure other teams are going to key him on next year.”
Senior captain Cameron Frazier also had a great campaign earning All-Shoreline Conference Second Team recognition with 10 goals and six assists on the year. Coach Fearon respected the way that Frazier would do anything for his team, especially after the Warriors lost the combined firepower of Michael Dilger and Chris Morales coming into this season.
“We’re going to miss Cameron a lot because of his versatility and ability to play multiple positions,” Fearon said. “He spent two years playing as a defender, and this year, we needed him to move up. He got prepared to do that and then there was an injury, and he had to play the back a few games after changing his game to move forward. He had a physical presence wherever he played.”
The defense had a strong season as a whole even after Frazier moved out of the backfield. Fearon found the defensive front of Evan Benson, Michael Brooks, Evan Salbinski, Michael Kollmer, and Dylan Sparaco invaluable. The Warriors also had an array of players in goal this year after the anticipated starting goalie Baron Schafer had to miss some time.
“Overall defensively, there were six shutouts for us in the season, so there were some positive things coming from our defense. The only game we struggled in the conference was Morgan, and that was really early in the year.,” Fearon said. “Baron Schafer started the season and played the first three games in goal and didn’t get back until the end of the season. We had some players step up in sophomores Hayden Lombardi and Ian Silva and junior Jackson Bisson.”
In the midfield, Keenan Pindar received All-Shoreline Conference Honorable Mention, and senior vice captain Ryan Shasha also contributed with seven goals and five assists on the year. Sam Helsel also managed a pair of goals and assists.
As the season wore on, Coach Fearon thought that his team really started to play some nice soccer. It didn’t always translate to wins, but as some players reintegrated onto the squad and everyone jelled, the quality of play improved. One game that typified that improvement came in a 3-3 tie against Shoreline Conference co-champion Old Saybrook.
“We had a really good game against Old Saybrook after being down 3-1 after the first half. I thought the second half we got on top of them. That was a good result,” said Fearon. “The final game of the season we beat Haddam-Killingworth, 4-0. We handled them and we got comfortable against them as opposed to the first game we played. I think towards the end of the year against Morgan Cromwell, H-K, and Saybrook, we were playing well.”
Looking back, Coach Fearon thought that this year was a bit of a missed opportunity, but in another sense, it presented a chance for some players to get valuable experience that may put them ahead next season.
“Usually, you go as far as your seniors take you. There were times when we only two or three seniors out on the field depending on who was available,” said Fearon. “The majority of the players were underclassmen. Those players who got some minutes, hopefully, that bodes well for next year. We couldn’t beat some the teams we needed to beat, but hopefully next year we’ll have the confidence to play against those Shoreline teams because of it.”
• The Valley Regional boys’ soccer team’s roster included senior captain Cameron Frazier; senior vice captain Ryan Shasha; seniors Evan Benson, Devon Connelly, Sam Ocken, Michael Pitruzello, Baron Schafer, Dylan Sparaco, Jaden Veiga, and Jeremy Villavicencio; juniors Jackson Bisson, Michael Brooks, Sam Helsel, Tate Ingham, Ronald Llivichuzhca, Keenan Pindar, Cameron Ruel, Ryan Shea, Andrew Sherman, and Ryan Silva; sophomores Jake Burdick, Tucker Burr, Hayden Lombardi, Simon Partyka, Andrew Salbinski, and Ian Silva; freshmen Samuel Hutchinson and Michael Kollmer.
• Head Coach Mick Fearon completed his 18th season with the Warriors. Fearon’s coaching staff includes Bryant Ziobron and Dan DeNegre. Ziobron was named the Shoreline Conference Assistant Coach of the Year for the second-straight season. Fearon also thanked Athletic Director Jeff Swan, Athletic Administrative Assistant Sheila Robida, and Agata Luff from the Valley Booster Club for their support.
• Valley’s wins this season came against Woodstock Academy (4-0), Cromwell (3-0), Haddam-Killingworth (2-1 and 4-0), North Branford (9-0), Portland (1-0), and East Hampton (2-0). The Warriors dropped contests versus Morgan (5-3 and 2-1), Westbrook (2-1), Old Lyme (2-1), Windham (6-0), and Coginchaug (3-0). The Warriors tied with Hale-Ray (2-2), Old Saybrook (3-3), and Cromwell (3-3).
• Valley entered the Class S State Tournament as the No. 23 seed and lost to No. 10 seed Tolland by a score of 2-1 in the first round.