Newfield building on best season

The past year has been a historic one for Newfield boys soccer. The Trojans picked up a win in the postseason for the first time in school history. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, they’ll have to wait a long time until they have a chance to build momentum as the fall season was pushed to March 2021.

The Trojans’ goal is to be regular playoff contenders in Section IV after getting their first taste of it. When the spring season, which is anticipated to start in March, eventually begins, co-head coaches Jake Kozlowski and Matt Wigsten will be looking to capitalize on the energy within the program.

“We kind of want to pick up where we left off last year, and kids have been really excited about this year,” Kozlowski said. “Unfortunately, we’re not going to start on time, if we start at all, but I still think that the overall kind of mentality of the soccer program is one that’s still increasing. I think we like our chances to make another sectional tournament this year if we get a chance to. I think soccer is on the come up in Newfield.”

Of course, dealing with an extra-lengthy offseason will be hard on players. There will be seven additional months away from the field, so being ready once the season begins is a serious challenge.

“I’m just trying to tell the kids to use some of this downtime to stay in shape, get some touches with the ball, go to the park, set up a net in your backyard, make sure you’re juggling, try to do as much as you can individually and in small groups, within the guidelines that New York state has set forth for us,” Kozlowski said. “The main thing is kids have more downtime, more downtime now than they’ve had in the past. They should take advantage of that to get in better shape.”

Currently, the focus at Newfield is creating a safe in-person learning environment in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, putting athletics on the backburner and understandably so. That means the onus is on the players to hold themselves accountable for the shape they’ll be in for that first practice. That plays into regular goals the coaches give their players.

“At the end of every season, we always say, ‘Guys, don’t wait six months to touch a soccer ball again,’” Kozlowski said. “If you’re serious about getting better, you don’t get that much better during the season. It’s the offseason where you got to get better and train and stay in shape.”

Just two seasons ago, the Trojans failed to win a single game. They showed great resilience by following that with the best season in program history. Part of that success was a pair of standout freshmen (now sophomores), Zach Taylor and Zach Schwoeble. Kozlowski discussed their impact.

“Both of those names are the two that probably stick out the most in terms of their youth and their ability,” Kozlowski said. “They’re both good friends, and they have wonderful families that support the game and they love the game. I’m definitely not worried about those guys. They are independent, and they’re mature enough to know what they need to do in the offseason.”

There will be a lot of responsibility on those two players to help maintain that success after seven seniors graduated, including Zach’s older brother and the team-leader in goals, Alex Schwoeble. Kozlowski discussed recovering from losing that many experienced players.

“[Of the seven seniors], four of them started and two of them were our top goal scorers,” Kozlowski said. “We will struggle offensively, I think, this year. The majority of our defense is back. The two Zachs are both back. They can play any position. But we had a decent modified team last year too, and we’re looking forward to seeing some new faces on the varsity team.”

Due to lower soccer numbers in Newfield, there is no JV team, meaning the jump to varsity is even more significant. With at least seven players making that leap this year, the goals remain the same for Kozlowski.

“[Our goal is to] reach sectionals again,” Kozlowski said. “We wanted to reach sectionals last year and we ended up winning a sectional game. In a way, we exceeded our expectations of last year. I think we can get there again. I think we can make the sectional tournament. That’s going to be our first goal. If we lose, we don’t want to lose by eight, nine goals. We want to be competitive. I think we were competitive in the majority of our games last year.”

Kozlowski’s main message to opposing teams is that Newfield’s soccer team is “not a pushover anymore” and that the program is steadily improving. Adding a half a year to the offseason after the best year in program history is not conducive to building momentum, but it’s a challenge the Trojans are ready to overcome.