Rams’ Upton looking to build on success

The Lynn Classical boys soccer team comes into the 2011 season as the defending Northeastern Conference/South champions, but with a lot of questions to answer under new head coach Rob Upton.Upton takes over for Joe Skahan and inherits a program that has been to the state tournament the last two years, dropping a 1-0 heartbreaker to Arlington in penalty kicks last year.”Our goal is that we want to maintain the level of success we’ve had and build on it if we can,” Upton said. “And we want to have a little more success in the tournament if we get that far.”The Rams road back to the postseason won’t be an easy one, though, as they have to replace a pair of NEC all-stars in goalkeeper Dammy Dada and stopper Greg Rybak.”Those are two spots that we really need to fill,” Upton said. “But it seems like we have some guys that can step up for us.”Upton will look to captains Kevine Kakou, a sweeper, and forward/midfielder Abdoulaye Bah to help shoulder some of the load.”It’s great that we have them back,” Upton said. “Both of them have a lot of experience and have been on successful teams. They bring the experience from winning the NEC last year and they get the message of hard work out to the kids.”Forward Yabisi Musema and midfielder John Gomez are a couple of players also returning to bring the Rams some experience.Another spot where the Rams have experience is along the sidelines as alongside Upton is a familiar face to locals in former English soccer player and current Lynn Jets hockey coach Joe Conlon.Upton and Conlon played together for Ken Noyes at Lynn English in the late ’90’s.”Joe’s experience as a head coach has certainly helped make the first days easier for me,” Upton said. “He sees things before they develop and addresses some things I might not see when I’m doing something else.”The Rams open up in the Lynn tournament on Sept. 9 against Lynn Tech. They also have non-league matches with Marblehead and Salem along with crossover games in the NEC against powerhouses Danvers and Peabody.”There are a lot of good teams in the league so that schedule will be very tough,” Upton said.