In sports, the phrase “what a difference a year makes” is often used to describe a turnaround season in which a team goes from the bottom to emerging as a contender. This fall, the Saugus boys soccer team exemplified that phrase to the best of their abilities.
In 2016, the Sachems, under first-year coach Larry Bolduc, went winless and were often pushed around by some of the more competitive teams in the Northeastern Conference. This past season, Saugus, which opted to become an independent team, turned 2016 into a very distant memory.
The Sachems rolled through their regular season with a 9-5-2 record. That was good enough for Saugus to earn its first appearance in the state tournament since 1998, with the No. 6 seed in the Division 3 North bracket.
Saugus was bounced in the first round by Dracut, the No. 11 seed, after a tough 2-1 loss in overtime at Anna Parker Playground.
Despite the defeat, the Sachems looked back on the 2017 season with plenty to smile about. The Sachems celebrated their team banquet last week at Spinelli’s in Peabody. And although the team also held a banquet after last year’s winless season, this year’s was certainly easier to be a part of.
“Last year, we had to put a positive spin on a really tough year at our banquet,” Bolduc said. “We barely scored goals and we didn’t win. This year, we had a lot to celebrate. We’re looking to move forward, to develop and win. Senior Angelo (Andrade), our team captain, gave a great speech about us moving forward and he wants us to continue our winning tradition.”
Bolduc handed out five awards to six different players at the banquet. The team’s MVP award was shared by co-winners Jonathan Rodrigues and Gaspar Jean, both midfielders. Rodrigues, who represented Saugus in Friday’s Eastern Massachusetts All-Star game, led the Sachems with 26 goals scored this fall while Jean added five.
“Jonathan, in his first year as a varsity player, he had a phenomenal year,” Bolduc said. “He won us a lot of games. He scored a bunch of goals, sometimes three or four in a game. Gaspar had a great season. He improved so much from last season. Those two were the most valuable to the team. We needed those guys in order to get wins.”
The unsung hero award went to goalie Juan Lopez, while Andrade, a defender, took the defensive player of the year nod. Andrade served as the team’s only captain this season.
“His leadership was a great part of our team,” Bolduc said. “His stability on the field, he never showed any signs of weakness. He never missed a minute on the field in the past two seasons. He left a good legacy with the three captains coming next season. It’ll be tough without him but he left our team in good position.”
Midfielder CJ Surette earned the most improved player of the year award and defender Guilherme Vaz took home the Sachem award.
Bolduc also named three captains for next year’s team. Serving as captains in 2018 will be Rodrigues, Lopez and Vaz. Rodrigues and Lopez will be seniors next season while Vaz will be a junior.
“All three of them are strong leaders and that’s why they were chosen,” Bolduc said. “They all make their teammates better on and off the field. Jonathan’s a playmaker, Juan keeps his composure and Guilherme’s a great defender. I’m confident that they’ll all bring something special to the table for us next year.”
Bolduc has high aspirations for the program moving forward to next season.
“We’ll have a lot of returning players,” Bolduc said. “I saw a lot of improvements within our junior varsity team. We’re going to keep developing and improving. We lost in the state tournament and that was tough but next year we’ll look to make it past the first round. The development of our program is definitely changing for the better at Saugus.”
