By Justin Feil, The Packet Group
The Hillsborough High School boys soccer team put together some big wins last season.
If the talent that returns blends with a strong crop of newcomers, the Raiders believe that they can do even more this season.
”We have a nice mix of a couple sophomores, a few juniors and a few seniors,” said Raiders head coach Eric Puma. “It’s a nice mix of players. They’re not really players that have been together. That’s actually coming along pretty quickly. They’re gelling pretty quickly. Even though they’re new teammates to each other, they’re coming together pretty quickly and they have a strong team spirit.”
Hillsborough has been using preseason practices and scrimmages to find where all their pieces can fit. The Raiders lost, 1-0, to East Brunswick and tied South Brunswick, 0-0. They were also scheduled to scrimmage Morristown.
”The big one is Friday, going to Hunterdon Central to start our season,” Puma said. “It’s been good so far.
”It’s going to be a big test. Hunterdon Central is always very strong. The fact that we have to go there, even though we’ve had three scrimmages, you don’t really know until the first match against a conference opponent how you are.
”I think we’ll be competitive in that game and every game this season. We’re going to be competitive. I don’t know how it’s going to shake out, but when we go there, we’re looking to win the game. We have a lot of confidence.”
Hunterdon Central was one of the strong teams that Hillsborough beat last year. They also beat Pingry for what was believed to be the first time in program history, and was at least the first time in Puma’s 12 seasons as head coach. They also gained confidence early in the year with a win over a strong Scotch Plains side.
”We’ve got some team goals that we’re still defining,” Puma said. “One of them that I always throw out there is shutouts. I think the school record is 12, so we’ve already got one team goal. We went to the county final two years in a row. There’s incentive there to keep that going.
”These first few games are super important. They give you the seeding and you’re set up for a tougher road or a slightly easier goal. We’re looking to get better as the season goes along and we’re set up to do that. We have a lot of hungry guys.”
There are no pushovers in the Skyland Conference, and Puma expects another tough road through the regular season. While he doesn’t know the exact make-up of every conference foe, he knows the challenge will be there.
”Hunterdon Central lost, I think, nine seniors,” he said. “I know Watchung Hills had a heavily senior laden team. I don’t know where they’re at. I’m sure they’ll have capable teams. Montgomery, Bridgewater, Pingry, they’re all good. There are six teams already that are going to be strong.
”They realigned the conference and there are two divisions and we have to play everybody. We play people in our side twice and the other side once.”
Puma also lost a lot of players from last year, but sees plenty of potential with another balanced group.
”There’s a lot of really good kids on there,” Puma said. “They have good character. They have a strong team spirit. They’re committed to soccer. All of them basically play all year round. They love the game. They love to play for Hillsborough.
”It’s been an absolute pleasure. You spend every day the next three months together, and you get the vibe this is going to work. I don’t know how exactly, but I think this is headed in a real positive direction.”
Puma has a familiar face to help guide the team this year. While his former assistant Fernando Vera is stepping back to a volunteer assistant role in order to spend more time with his family, the Raiders welcome back Chris Giordano as an assistant coach. Giordano played for Puma in 2002, graduated from HHS and has returned as a history teacher and assistant coach.
”He and I are creating a new relationship,” Puma said. “He and I are still figuring that out.”
Puma has once again started to shape his team from the defensive end out. He has found that to be sound strategy as he heads into his 19th season at HHS, 13th as head coach.
”We try to take care of that first,” Puma said, explaining, “If we keep a clean sheet, or limit an opponent to a goal, we’re always going to be in it. The goals, I think, will come. When we start a season, we always start teaching defense. Then we start teaching attack. Throughout the season, 1-0 and 2-1 games, that’s the results we’re looking to have in our favor.”
Puma likes the look of the core players that he returns, and he sees some strong newcomers winning vital roles for the Raiders.
”We lost our senior keeper, but we have a senior keeper this year,” Puma said. “We lost Cameron Dennis who played center back. He was all-county. We’re rebuilding in the back. We’re going to be new back there. We lost Danny Pankulics, who was our second-leading goal scorer, so we lost a big piece in the attack and defense. Zeke Realmonte, who was the leading goal scorer last year, is back, and Eddie Michta, they’re going to provide a lot of offense for us. Another important guy is Brian McEnroe, who is our center midfielder. We have a strong spine of the team with Jimmy (Mazich) in goal, Brian, the back is new, but we also have Gareth Dennis back and he’s a key player for us.”
Mazich had been in a starting role two years ago before injuring his knee. His return is important to Hillsborough.
”He’s played every scrimmage,” Puma said. “He does wear a brace, but he’s already been playing club for six months. He’s been playing in the spring and summer. He’s fit. And we have a nice sophomore that’s backing him up, Robby Degaris.”
The Raiders will use a mix of youth in the field with their returners. Carter Altman, a sophomore, takes over at center back. A pair of juniors, Andrew Patterson and Phil Masiakoski, will be in bigger roles this year. Two seniors, Ryan Goldberg and Mike Zamora, are seniors who will takes spots on the outside for defense with Altman and Masiakoski playing the middle. Hunter Greyling, a transfer from England, also will be in the rotation in the back. Up front, sophomore John Agosta is expected to make an impact.
”We’re going to need to adapt to the physical nature of the game,” Puma said. “We have a lot of talented, technically gifted players. We have to be not only technically sound, but meet the physical demands of the high school game. That’s something the boys have to adjust to. Half of the team, varsity is a new experience to them. These guys are year-round players, but when you get to the varsity in high school, it becomes a physical test as well.”
The Raiders have spent three weeks putting the pieces together for this year’s team. They open Friday with the chance to see where they are in their first official game, and they are excited about where they can go from there.
”That’s my job, I have to bring them together,” Puma said. “It’s brand new. We’re still building a team. We’ve been together since Aug. 13. We spent a lot of time with tryouts. Now that we have our guys, we’re building a team and learning how to compete and trying to get used to one another.”
