After an undefeated regular season, the English boys soccer team was well represented among the Northeastern Conference All-Stars and awards.
Bulldogs coach Kerry King was named NEC Coach of the Year. Obed Baswa, Chris Lazo and Ryan Lima earned All-Conference honors. Luis Aleman, Andric Barrios and Jack Mancaniello were named South All-Stars.
“It’s an honor to be voted Coach of the Year by your peers,” King said. “I’m also happy that we had six all-stars on the team. Three of them (Baswa, Lazo, Lima) are also Eastern Mass. All-Stars. That’s a tremendous honor.”
The Bulldogs won just four games last season. This year, in a complete turnaround, English completed its regular season at 14-0-2. Last week, the Bulldogs defeated Salem to win their first NEC title since 1983.
“We saw that we had a lot of skilled players and it just happened to all come together this year,” King said. “We have a super group of kids that are very unselfish. They didn’t worry about stats. They were committed to playing together and working as a team, and that was key.”
English has placed itself in a good position for a top seed in the upcoming Division 1 North state tournament. The MIAA will release the brackets Friday.
“Division 1 North is a pretty tough bracket,” King said. “We understand that we have to be at our best. No matter who you’re playing, you’re going to get great opponents. There are teams from the Dual County League, Bay State League and the Merrimack Valley League. No matter who we get, we know we’re getting a battle-tested opponent.”
Gloucester’s Anthony Suazo was named MVP. The Winthrop Vikings earned the Sportsmanship Award.
The rest of the All-Conference team includes Classical’s Alex Ixlaj and Jenner Robles; Beverly’s Kaj Avola, Nick Braganca and Danny Buzi; Gloucester’s Suazo and Andrew Coelho; Peabody’s Nick Sablone; Salem’s Endi Doku.
The rest of the South All-Star team includes Classical’s Theo Kamarinos, Fernando Gomez; Saugus’ Jacob Goodwin, Nick Flores; Salem’s Luke Mark, Nico Flores; Winthrop’s Kevin Dorr, Kim Haddar.
“We have a strong program that’s developing strong players,” Classical coach Eric Moreno Jr. said. “Alex finished second in MVP voting. He’s eligible for All-Region and All-American nominations. Jenner had a great season. He scored when we needed him to score. That was well deserved.
“Fernando’s a captain. He’s been there for the big moments. He almost made All-Conference. He also really deserved the recognition. He scored 12 goals this season. Theo’s also a captain. He organizes our back line. He changed roles and stepped right into it. He’s a very disciplined defender and I’m very proud of his improvements.”
Classical, 13-3-2 during the regular season, now gears up for the Division 2 North state tournament.
“I’m extremely proud of the boys,” Moreno Jr. said. “This season, we were all geared toward seeding. This is definitely the highest we’ve ever been seeded. We were No. 5 last year and we’re looking at possibly the No. 2 seed this year. That puts us in a great position to play at Manning pretty much the whole tournament.”
The North All-Star team includes Beverly’s Joel Platt, Jackson Erwin, Chris Rosetti; Peabody’s Ben Kemp, Kyle Morfis; Gloucester’s Jack Patten, Max Sperry; Marblehead’s Alfred Bresnahan, Hayden Miller; Swampscott’s Jason Aucone; Danvers’ Dan Rossitto.
