The Oakmont Regional High School boys’ varsity soccer team has started off the 2022 season with an excellent 8-0 record. Each team they’ve played, the boys fought strong and hard emerging victorious every time. With 24 goals for and 6 goals against, the boys have made it very hard for teams to even compete. There has only been one game this season where the boys were losing at any point in the game. The team has played extremely hard from the start, beating other teams with an energy that is often unmatched. 

The success of the team does not happen without hard work behind the scenes. There are multiple factors that contribute to the team’s success. From the coaching staff to skilled depth, and most importantly, team chemistry. Our coaching staff has had the team prepared each match. Without Coach Stiles, Coach Bedard, and Coach Jones it would be extremely difficult to win as many games as we have. Everyone knew coming into tryouts that in order to be a strong team this season, our conditioning had to be good.

Throughout the summer, the team met at least once a week to train together while at the same time taking part in a summer league against other high schools. Stiles pushed the idea that if we are in shape, we would run over our competition. The whole week of tryouts, he made us run a ton. It was brutal and exhausting; however, looking back at it from mid-season, we can see that our endurance allows us to play all 80 minutes, with full focus, and intensity. We have found ourselves continuing to play at the same pace at both the beginning and end of the game, when many other teams start to drop around halftime. Coach Stiles has also pushed everyone to be the best player that they can possibly be. He believes that we have something special and that we can go far into the playoffs. 

The varsity squad had also returned with virtually all players from last year, only losing two seniors. It’s beneficial that we have played with each other in the past because we know our teammates’ strengths and weaknesses. We all know our place on the team and what we are responsible for in the game. Knowing this, we are able to hold each other accountable both on and off the field. Younger players have done great in stepping up to fill open spaces on the field.

What has proved most significant to the success of the team is the depth in the starting lineup and subs. Oakmont has 31 Goals For and 9 Goals against. Goals have come from over 8 players this year proving that teams can not hope to shut down goal-scoring opportunities by every man marking one player. Every player contributed a great amount of effort to each win. Some highlight players for this season so far, include Gael Vera (18 goals), Liam Mullane (1 goal 4 assists), Mike Bedard (9 assists, 1 goal), and Kaden Yoder (2 goal 3 assists).

Stats Updated: 10/6

The Spartans have played phenomenally in the center of the field, controlling the other team while distributing the ball to create many goal-scoring opportunities.  Though we can’t forget about our two goalkeepers, Nick Khuel .77 GAA and Ben Forbes 1.6 GAA. Nick Khuel has had shutouts against Littleton and Gardner.  They also had a combined shutout against Quabbin. Without our amazing goalkeepers, we wouldn’t have kept games close or even win.