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08/30/2021 12:00 AMThe Old Saybrook boys’ soccer squad is gearing up for a new season with significantly different-looking squad. The Rams are coming off an 8-3 record in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and are still the reigning Class S State Tournament champions since there was no state tourney last year.
Head Coach Steve Waters is eager for the season to start and believes he has a solid group to contend in 2021.
It has been a long time since the sports landscape has resembled a normal season, but that’s hopefully what the Rams will see this year. Coach Waters is preaching patience and wants his athletes to stay in the moment as much as possible. Overall, Old Saybrook is no longer the senior-heavy club it was in years past, but Waters believes it will just take a bit of time to get the team firing on all cylinders.
“It’s one game at a time, and one week at a time. We have a lot of younger players, lots of juniors and sophomores,” said Waters, who is in his second year as Head Coach with the Rams. “We only have a few seniors. We have some decent players, it’s just putting it all to together for us.”
From all early indications, the Rams will be depending on their offense to win the day in their contests this season. Coach Waters, knows he has a talented group in the offensive third of the field, and he wants his players to keep the ball up there as much as possible.
“I would say we’re probably going to be an attack style team,” Waters said. “We have guys that really play inside the attacking third, so we want to play there as much as we can.”
Some of the players that will feature in the Rams offense are senior striker Nick Rothman, junior striker Cameron DeAngelo, and sophomore striker Kevin DeCapua. Waters feel confident in relying on those three to develop the Rams’ offensive identity this year.
“Nick Rothman is one of two important seniors on the squad. He’s a striker, and he had the most goals on the team last year,” Waters said. “Cam is a talented forward as a junior. He’s been a regular player for us, and he’s really fun to watch out there. Kevin DeCapua is another one of our attackers. He’s a sophomore who played at the varsity level last season as a freshman.”
Old Saybrook has a small but steady contingent returning to the midfield this season. Junior midfielder Bradley Kulmann and junior midfielder Ryan Stratton will both be providing the connective tissue between the offensive and defensive ends of the pitch for the Rams in 2021.
“Bradley Kulmann will be playing midfielder for us primarily. He started in all of our games last year, and he’s even played as a freshman. He has experience in the middle of the field. That experience is going to help us out a lot,” said Waters. “Ryan Stratton is a solid athlete and has a lot of moves to help him beat his defenders. He can really penetrate the attacking third very well as a midfielder.”
In the backfield, Old Saybrook has a returning defensive star in senior defender Nick Scalzo. Scalzo was one of the top defenders in the Shoreline Conference last season, and he has the hardware to prove it after earning All-Shoreline Conference First Team honors for his efforts. Another promising player for the Rams this year is sophomore Lucas Webb. Coach Waters could tell that Webb really put in some work this offseason.
“Nick Scalzo is the other really important senior for us this season. He’s an all-league defender. He earned first team All-Shoreline last year,” Waters said. “Lucas Webb came into camp this year looking really strong. We’re thinking of putting him on defense for the most part, but we are still putting everything together.”
The last line of defense for Old Saybrook this season will be senior goalkeeper Ryan Slisz. Waters knows that Slisz played a good portion of his young career in the field rather than in front of the goal, but the senior goalie is capable of making great saves. Waters hopes to limit the number of times Slisz will have to go above and beyond in front of the net this campaign.
“Right now we have our senior goalie Ryan Slisz. He was primarily a field player, but we’ve used him at goal in the past,” Waters said. “He’s capable of making really good saves, but we also have to be solid in front of him defensively. There’s no need for him to make that many saves if we’re playing good defense.”
This year the schedule looks closer to normal with a handful of out-of-conference contests, and Coach Waters is always a fan of his athletes getting a taste of what the rest of the state has to offer for competition. Waters believes it sets the right precedent to prepare for any possible postseason battles. Coach Waters believes that one of the biggest challenges that the Rams will face this year comes from the schedule itself.
“The biggest thing is going to be dealing with the schedule. We have a lot of games in short periods of times,” Waters said. “The schedule is going to be really demanding. That’s why we’re going one game and one week at a time.”
Waters has high hopes for the Rams this year, and most of all, he has been impressed with his players commitment to their conditioning. Couple that with a group that gets along and supports each other, and Old Saybrook looks poised for success this year.
“Overall, this team came in with an elevated fitness level compared to the last two years. The synergy between the players is also very good,” said Waters. “There’s not a lot of miscommunication on the field. The training sessions are going well. Everyone is cooperative and respectful to each other and to me as a coach. It’s all great. The environment is very healthy.”
2021 Old Saybrook Boys’ Soccer Schedule
Home games at Old Saybrook High School
Thursday, Sept. 9: at East Hampton at 3:45 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 13: at Haddam-Killingworth at 3:45 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 20: vs. Old Lyme at 3:45 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 23: vs. Hale-Ray at 3:45 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 27: at Valley Regional at 3:45 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 30: vs. Morgan at 3:45 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 2: at Canton at 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 5: vs. Portland at 3:45 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 8: at Westbrook at 3:45 p.m.
Monday, Oct. 11: at Norwich Free Academy at 10 a.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 13: at North Branford at 3:45 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 15: vs. Coginchaug at 3:45 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 16: vs. East Lyme at 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 19: vs. Cromwell at 3:45 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 21: at Morgan at 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 23: vs. Valley Regional at 11 a.m.