With soccer season officially in full swing, the boys’ varsity team has found themselves battling to establish themselves as a powerhouse in the Marin County Athletic League.
In their season opener, the boys’ tied with Drake High School 1-1. Redwood was winning for a majority of the game, thanks to an early goal from junior Sasha Boussina. However, Drake managed to find the back of the net late in the 78th minute to even the score.
The team then battled Tamalpais High School, the defending MCAL champs, in their second game. Tam scored the first two points of the game, and despite a crafty goal from Marin Buch, senior, Redwood was unable to make a comeback, losing 3-1.
Redwood’s next game is against Marin Catholic on Wednesday.
This year’s squad is led by returning captains Will Finnie and Jack Elton. Unlike last year, the team will bring back a strong arsenal of experienced upperclassmen to build around.
“We have eight seniors this year, compared to one from only a year ago,” Boussina said. “We have basically the same team we had last year, except not as young. This should be our year.”
Despite losing only one senior from last year, the boys’ team has had to cope with the loss of three more players—senior Brian Von Lackum, and juniors Patrick Tracy and Liam Bourke. Von Lackum and Bourke both started for the team last year. Von Lackum is playing for a club travel team rather than the Redwood squad this season, and both Bourke and Tracy joined the football team.
“[Losing Brian] was a big hit to our team because he probably would have been our best player,” Boussina said. “But we do have people stepping up to fill their roles, and it won’t be as bad as we thought it would be in the beginning of the year.”
Senior Jack Elton mentioned having four preseason games helped the team come together and fill the holes that were caused through the absence of Von Lackum, Tracy, and Bourke.
“We still need to get a little more comfortable playing with each other,” Elton said. “But having four preseason games helped us worked out a few kinks before the season started.”
The boys’ team managed to finish the preseason with a record of 1-1-1. They beat Windsor, tied with Maria Carrillo, and lost to Mission. They had another preseason game in which they scrimmaged University High School, but the game did not count towards their record, and neither team kept score.
According to Boussina, the team managed to play best in their game of the year against Windsor.
“We managed to come together a lot [in the Windsor game],” Boussina said. “Whenever we can play our style of game, we get a good feel for each other and play really well.”
