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Men’s soccer team looks to roll into Sectional

By Ryan Duffy
<rduffy@hilite.org>

The men’s varsity soccer team finishes off its regular season tomorrow at home against Zionsville at 3 p.m.

Both the coaches and the players said they are pleased with how the season has been going so far, and said that they believe the success will continue against Zionsville.

Head Coach Shane Schmidt said, “We feel that we have had a successful season to this point. We will play Zionsville the exact same way that we would anybody else. We will have to be aware of people on the field, but we won’t change anything.”

Senior Dean Weaver, who plays outside midfield, said something similar about how Carmel will play Zionsville. “We are just going to play our game. We are starting to get everything together, even though there have been a couple injuries,” Weaver said.

After playing Zionsville tomorrow, the team starts a new season with the playoffs. The Sectional games begin for Carmel at Fishers on Thursday, leaving very little time for practice. However, Schmidt said that he has total confidence in the team.

“We have a very strong Sectional, but I feel that if we play Carmel soccer, we have a very good chance at winning it,” Schmidt said.

The Sectional draw was scheduled to take place this week. Schmidt said the team knows it will face either Fishers, Hamilton Southeastern or Westfield in its opening game.

Weaver said that he also feels the team can win its Sectional. But after the Sectional, the team heads deeper into the State playoffs. Weaver said that in order to have success throughout the tournament, the team’s success in the Sectional is very important.

“We have to win every game when the tournament starts, so we are going to have to be on some kind of ‘roll.’ I just hope we can get our whole team back and we can put a few in the back of the net every game,” Weaver said.

Schmidt said that he also thinks that having momentum is crucial to playoff success. “With the path that we have to go down to get to the State Finals, it is very important that we are peaking at the right time. We will have to be successful in every round of the tournament if we want to be playing on Nov. 1. I have told them from the beginning of the season that I believe, in my heart, that they have ability to win the State Championship.”

Weaver, who has been playing Carmel soccer since he was a sophomore, said it’s just now hitting him that his games are limited with his high school team. “I am finally realizing that these are going to be the last high school soccer games that I am going to play and I feel like the other seniors realize that also,” he said. “We all know that we need to give 110 percent all the time.”

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