LYNN — After a 12-win season, conference championship, and state tournament berth, a lot of boys soccer programs would be content – not KIPP.
“We want to make it all the way. We want to make it to the finals,” Coach Jon Langlois said of his Division 5 program. “The guys are hungry, and that’s what we’re going to set out to do.”
Langlois has been helming the Panthers for six years. Last fall, they were 12-7-1 before bowing out against Douglas in the state tournament.
“We set out a goal for ourselves, and, obviously, the goal is the same every year. We want to make it to the state tournament,” Langlois said. “We achieved our goal and that’s our top priority.”
Now, with soccer season coming around the corner like a Messi free kick, new challenges await KIPP.
“[We’re] missing a lot of firepower coming from the midfield,” Langlois said. “We had a lot of quality players that were there for us.”
It’s true. KIPP graduated Kenny DeLeon, Kevin Rodriguez, Jefferson Paz-Flores, Gabriel Barrios, and Diego Rodriguez.
But new Panthers will step up, according to Langlois.
“We’ve had a couple of kids with the program for a couple years now. They were players that, kind of, saw some time [and] didn’t see time,” Langlois said. “But overall, they’ve really stepped it up in training.”
Going further, Langlois said he’s looking forward to Helder DeLeon for his goal-scoring and ability to create opportunities.
“He’s going to, hopefully, lead the pack for us,” Langlois said. “He’s really come out of his shell a little bit.”
Henry Romero is right there, too, as Langlois added he’s versatile, plays multiple positions, and pulls teammates through adversity.
“He trained overseas (Greece) last year,” Langlois said. “He really likes to step up and kind of take control of the team.”
As for goaltender Angel Lopez and a handful of returning defenders in front of him, opponents will have to see them again.
“We’ve got a really strong defensive line stepping forward,” Langlois said. “Our scorelines are, hopefully, going to be a little bit smaller on the goals against.”
KIPP began last season scoring 32 goals before conceding one, and fought hard in two games against powerhouse Stoneham.
“They’re a solid program and always competing,” Langlois said. “We went out and lost 2-1 one game and 1-0 the following game. Those are big scores for us considering, in the past, they took control of the game and ran away with it.”
One of KIPP’s concluding games was a Senior Night matchup against Lynn Tech. Despite the fog being “so thick that you could barely see the players,” Langlois said the 2-2 tie was a great experience.
“It was a very intense game. Emotions run high when you’re playing a team from the same city,” Langlois said. “In all honesty, you really couldn’t have asked for a better game. Both teams came out [and] were super professional.”
Now, it’s time to run it back with tryouts slated for Aug. 21.
“We’ll see who shows up, and we’ll go from there,” Langlois said. “August rolls around and you start getting everything together – results, who you had for key players, and kind of looking at your notes from last season’s games.”
