By Justin Feil, Packet Media Group
Eric Puma likes the way that his Hillsborough High School boys soccer team has been shaping up during the preseason.
“The competitiveness and focus is there,” said the Raiders head coach. “I think we’re going to need that. We have so many tough opponents. We have good competition on the squad and they’re focused on doing well.”
The Raiders were untracked by injuries last year that cut into their depth and left them vulnerable against another loaded Skyland Conference schedule. Hillsborough will again be facing a daunting schedule, but feels better about its capabilities to compete.
“Probably the depth is our strength,” Puma said. “We have three goalkeepers there, but probably will only keep two. We’re solid at every positon. We suffered some key injuries and we were young and didn’t have the depth last year. I think this year we have the depth and I think that’ll allow us to be successful over the season when you’re playing three games per week which is tough.”
Among the players competing for varsity time are: seniors Sam Benadon, Gareth Dennis, Brandon Dominique, Phil Masaikowski, Eddie Michta, Andrew Patterson, Alex Segura, Steve Tamayo; juniors John Agosta, Carter Altman, Christian Barrera, Joe Bevilacqua, Panayiotis Christodoulides, Phivos Christodoulides, Robbie Degaris, Liam Jurkowich, Danny Kozimbo, Kyle Liona, Nick Manuelli and Gavin Wasylak; sophomores Kyle Bogado and Vishal Chalam; and freshman Zurab Bedoshvili.
“The half of the team that’s new has to learn to play at this level,” Puma said. “We have half the team that hasn’t played at this level and they have to learn to deal with the physicality and intensity of playing. We have to bring the new half along quickly. That’s probably going to be our biggest obstacle to overcome — we have to become one team quickly.”
The returning Raiders know well just how competitive their schedule will be. Every game is difficult in the Skyland Conference and Puma is expecting more of the same.
“I always think of Pingry, Hunterdon Central, Bridgewater, they’re always difficult teams to play against,” he said. “I’m not sure who’s returning, but those teams are always going to be difficult to match up with. Montgomery is good. That’s basically our conference with Watchung Hills.”
Puma will be leaning on his experienced players to help bring the level of play up to speed quickly so they can compete with any team. He has a strong core to put that responsibility on in the preseason.
“I have a couple seniors that were back that were here last year,” Puma said. “We have good leadership. I haven’t yet picked a captain, but I have a lot of good options.”
It will help that the Raiders do have experience in the back where they like to start to build the team. The defense will again be key for Hillsborough.
“We’re veteran in the middle of the back,” Puma said. “We have new guys on the outside. Our goalkeeper is returning and we have center backs that are returning. The strength is the midfield. We have a lot of talented midfielders. We’re going to play as many midfielders as we can and maybe only one guy up top. We’re going to play with a lot of midfielders.”
With such strength in the midfield and without many true forwards, the scoring will be spread out. If the Raiders’ defense is up to its usual standards, Hillsborough won’t need many goals. They’re confident that they can get them with the make-up of a balanced attack.
“I think we’ll be dangerous from a couple different positions,” Puma said. “If you have one guy that they can key on, that can be easy to defend. We’re hoping to be dangerous from a couple different positions. We’re hoping for balance in terms of finishing.”
The Raiders are looking to finalize their varsity roster over the next week. They will open play Sept. 10 at home against Hunterdon Central. Hillsborough is using three scrimmages against East Brunswick, Steinert and South Brunswick to iron out the final positions.
“We have a lot of guys that are pretty close to each other,” Puma said. “That’s good. You don’t want that much of a difference between your substitutes and starters. We’ll see in the scrimmages who sets themselves apart. About half have solidified a starting spot and the other half are still fighting it out.”
