For the second year in a row, the boys soccer season ended in the Regional Finals, as the team fell on Nov. 4 to Andrews Osborne Academy, who would go on to win the Div. III state championship game.
The Bison surpassed last year’s already-impressive season, finishing 15-2 in the regular season, 19-3 overall.
“The team’s biggest accomplishment this season was breaking the record for wins,” outside midfielder Daniel Park said.
That is not the only reason why the season was historic.
They also shattered the team scoring record, with 101 goals this season.
Junior midfielder Grant Keilin finished the season with 37 goals, breaking a scoring record that had stood since 2015.
“[Another accomplishment was] beating all our rivals in one season,” outside defender Nate Brecher added.
Most notably, the Bison defeated Chagrin Falls 3-1 on Sept. 7 on the Tigers’ home pitch. It was their first time defeating Chagrin since 2006; first time winning at Chagrin since 1999.
They also earned the CVC title for the third year in a row with a conference record of 4-0.
The season also fostered many breakout players.
“As a freshman, Daniel Park was a player sent from heaven,” center back Straja Dimitrijevic said. “He started to show up and do great things towards the end of the season, winning us games and eventually earning him the right to start on the field.”
“I was most impressed with Asher Gearity,” said Brecher. “Asher just improved so much from last season and he works really hard,” he added.
Furthermore, the team faced many challenges. One prominent hurdle they had to overcome was injuries.
“Daniel broke his leg earlier in the year,” center back Kyle Bennett said.
“Some major adjustments we made this season were changing some players in the starting 11 because of some injuries,” Park mentioned.
We were very cocky in the first half of the season, but our loss to Mooney humbled us. After that, we took every team seriously because we all wanted that state chip.
— Cenber Back Straja Dimitrijevic
The team also had to learn to work together more effectively when things were not going well.
“Our team had a lot of toxicity during our practices and games throughout the first half of the season. When things went wrong, some people resorted to pointing fingers and using destructive criticism,” said Dimitrijevic. “Thankfully, the captains stepped up and did their best to mitigate the problem and it proved to be effective.”
As defending CVC champs, the team had to avoid overconfidence to continue their success.
“Some losses helped, and just knowing that there is always someone better,” Bennet said.
“We were very cocky in the first half of the season, but our loss to Mooney humbled us,” Dimitrijevic said. “After that, we took every team seriously because we all wanted that state chip,” he added.
Overall, the season ended with great accomplishments and an incredible record. The team hopes to achieve even better in the future.
“Next season I hope to grow even more and continue our success,” Brecher said.
