As the halfway point of the season nears boys varsity soccer seems to have great potential. Captain Ryan Schutze shares his thoughts on the season so far, how he feels now, and what comes next.

As of  October 1st the team’s record is 4-4, having lost to Wayne Valley, Clifton, Fairlawn and Kennedy, and defeating Passaic Valley, West Milford, Lakeland, and Old Tappan. When asked about how he feels about the season so far Captain Ryan Schutze said, “I feel that the season is not going too well, we are not off to the best start but can definitely turn it around.” Ryan is able to stay optimistic despite not having a winning record and having lost to Wayne Hill’s biggest rival Wayne Valley.

When asked how good he feels about his chances of making it into the playoffs Ryan said, “I think we still have a very good chance of making the playoffs with our record.” Hills is definitely still in the running to make it to the playoffs and will do so as long as they keep working hard.

Ryan went on to speak about the team’s strengths and weaknesses. “I think we have a lot of good and strong individual players but our downfall is the lack of team chemistry between all of us,” he said. For the fact that most of the players have been playing soccer with each other for over 4 years it is surprising to hear that they lack chemistry.

When asked about how coach Bailey has been as the varsity coach so far, Ryan said, “I feel like Bailey has been a good coach so far this season, he comes in day in and day out with a good mentality trying new things to make us better as a program.” Coach Bailey was also the boy’s coach their freshman year at Hills, it is not common to have the same coach freshman and senior year and is extremely beneficial.

During the game against Wayne Valley, Ryan got physical with another player, when asked about the topic he said, “The altercation between the other player happened because the other guy thought he was a big guy and tried to come up to me after I fouled his teammate. I don’t regret it one bit and I would do the same thing every time I’m just glad his teammates pulled him away so he didn’t get hurt.”

In regards to the upcoming games, especially the one against a rival, Wayne Valley on October 14th, Ryan had this to say, “I feel like we have a good chance of winning the next few games and am excited to play valley and hopefully beat them this time.”