The Lakeview boys soccer team has been one of the top teams in the area for the past couple of years. Going to the district finals in 2019 and making it to the district semi-finals in 2020. After losing a bunch of talented seniors, this year’s team is working on fighting for a district title. 

With the soccer team losing so many upperclassmen they’ve had to overcome some struggles with how young the team is. With other teams being so much bigger and older than the Bulldogs they’ve had to adapt as a team and come up with new strategies to win games. 

 The seniors of the boys soccer team are Gavin Franks, Cayden Buhala, and Thomas Spencer. These seniors are well known on the team for their leadership skills. 

The captains of this year’s boys soccer team are Spencer, Buhala, and junior Luca Comichisto. This group of gentlemen are expected to lead their team this year as they fight to have a winning season. 

Although the team didn’t meet their week 1 expectations here is what coach Nicholas Facciolo had to say about it, “We have another young team just like last year. Although we didn’t beat some teams that we should’ve beat my expectation were for us to compete and grow as a team. The league we are in is very strong and we schedule outside the league just as strong or stronger teams to help us grow. Despite some of the score lines, I would say we have competed in more games than not so far.”

With the team being young the seniors still have high hopes and expectations for the season. Buhala had to say, “We are a young team and we started off the season a little rough, but as we progressed on the next few weeks of the season we really started to show our potential. We grew more as a team and started to understand how one of each other played which really helped us move the ball around and speed up our play.”

Senior Gavin Franks also had some remarks to say about the team and how they have been performing, “At the beginning of preseason we were looking pretty strong, but when the season first started it seemed like we were nervous and we just fell apart. After our first couple of games passed we started to look pretty strong again connecting our passes. With the team being so young it seemed like the nerves started to go away and the young players started to build confidence.”

As it is still early on in the season there is still a lot the team can accomplish as they move forward. Here is what coach Facciolo had to say about the season so far, “The season is still very young, but as of now, I would say we have accomplished much. Our play has improved in the face of injuries and missing starters, and many underclassmen have stepped up. The player leaders on the team have led through controversy and contention. There is still a lot of season left and I look forward to what we are able to accomplish.”

With it only being a couple of weeks into the season the Bulldogs still have a lot to show on the field and can hopefully have a promising season as they move forward.

In the up and coming weeks, the Bulldogs will be playing some very competitive teams, but they are looking strong and the players are looking for some promising results. The Bulldogs will be at Niles on 9/27 and will be hosting South Range on 9/29.