The Naugatuck High School (NHS) boys’ Soccer team is slowly coming to an end and the team is very determined to win states this 2024 season after receiving an NVL. The boys have been on a winning streak this season and are fighting to stay undefeated before this season ends.
The boy’s journey to get to the NVL championship was an absolute success, placing the top number one seed in NVL after the season and staying undefeated.
With a score of 4-0 in the quarter-finals against Holy Cross, scoring 2 goals by Jayse Danuszar and 2 by Antonio Guerreiro, Naugatuck stayed in the running. They later scored 3-0 against Waterbury Career Academy (WCA) with 2 goals by team captain Adrian Wichlinski and Joao Victor (JV), and a celebrating 1-0 score by Adrian Wichlinski in the NVL championship final against Seymour.
One of the team captains, Adrian Wichlinski, shared that even the next step for the team is winning states. “It’s not going to be easy, nothing is easy. So we have to try even harder than before in our practices and give it our all. Make sure we stay focused and not get too excited after winning NVLs. Just got to keep on working.”
Coaches Jose Sendra and Jamie Verab had much to share about their plan for states and the years moving forward in regards to the season coming to an end.
“Unfortunately the end of the season is nearing and that’s kind of a sad thing, you know? But states are next, of course, and were looking forward to it. It’s challenging because we’re playing any team in the state and Class LL and there are a lot of quality teams. We’re standing the chance of facing some really good teams. And it’s really anybody’s game.” Coach Sendra shared.
Coach Sendra has been involved with soccer ever since he started teaching his kids at a young age, which led him to coaching their team after they transitioned to recreational soccer, and now coaching the Naugatuck High School boys, leading their team to state level.
Coach Verab started his journey of coaching the NHS boys’ soccer team shortly after succeeding in his very own soccer journey. Before becoming a coach, Verab played college soccer at the University of Connecticut and professional soccer, became a D1 coach for both boys and girls and holds many state and league titles for soccer.
Coach Verab shares that getting the team to focus and play the best they can won’t be a difficult problem. “The team collectively has been playing together for so many years now, especially the juniors who have been playing together since they were much younger at not only the high school level. They all know each other, their strengths and weaknesses. So working together, the players and us, isn’t much of an issue. They take the criticism and put that into their work.”
Being the team captain of a sports team isn’t an easy placement. With expectations of being accurate, precise, and “the best”, having this leadership role may come with difficulties. Jordan Francis, sharing the team captain role with Wichlinski, shares that this role does have its challenges. Francis says, “Uniting the team together, making sure they work hard at games and practices, just making sure everyone is locked in on their goal. With states approaching we have to make sure everyone, including ourselves, do the best that we can.”
Coach Sendra shares highlights from this year are not only the NVL Championships, but also seeing kids step up and the many boys contributing to the team who struggled in the past to get to where they are now. With the 2024 season coming to an end, the NHS Boys soccer team are headed to states and are very determined to guarantee a win.
