LYNN — The St. Mary’s boys soccer team is looking for revenge this fall after falling short of some goals – no pun intended – a season ago.
Under the direction of second-year Head Coaches Shane McCarran and Eddie Mercy Kisakye, the Spartans look to have a dangerous attack while being solid at the back.
“Last year was great. We were 12-5-3 on the year,” McCarran said. “We lost in the second round to Dedham. We spent most of the year trying to rebuild our culture, which we did.”
Despite losing a few all-stars, the Spartans have plenty of depth.
“We have a very strong squad coming back. We have nine seniors, seven juniors, five sophomores, and have a solid incoming class of freshmen coming in,” McCarran said. “It’s building up the numbers and keeping the culture going and getting back to winning ways.”
Mercy Kisakye agreed with his partner in crime.
“I think, this year, we have a lot more depth, which is something we didn’t have a lot of last year,” he said. “We also have diversity in the various positions that are important to us, especially in attack. Last year, we were a bit limited in attacking players. This year, with the new additions, we are looking to be more of a goal-scoring team.”
Although both McCarran and Mercy Kisakye lead the team, they both have coaching philosophies that complement the other.
“Shane and I have a great balance of the dynamic of coaching,” Mercy Kisakye said. “He focuses a lot on how good we are defensively, while I look at the different patterns we can have in attack. We’re going to focus a lot on being very aggressive in attack and being able to score goals with ease.”
Last season, the Spartans were a possession-based team and although they scored lots of goals with their build-up play, both coaches want to be more flexible.
“We’re a solid defensive team,” McCarran said. “We have a lot of offensive talent that we are looking to put together. We have some kids coming in that will make a big difference. With the talent we have up top, if we can string it together, there should be a lot of goals this fall.”
“The philosophy that we built from the time we took [over] was about being patient with the ball,” Mercy Kisakye said. “This year, we want to be a bit more flexible and incorporate a counter-attacking game. That will come down to how much we deal with pressure and how precise we are when we win possession back. We were patient last year and scored a lot of goals, but we want to be very aggressive, especially on counter-attacks.”
With the season approaching, McCarran wants to get off to a fast start – first, by winning the city tournament.
“We have three goals every season. The first is to win the Lynn tournament, which we lost in a shootout to Tech. Win the conference, which all we had to do was not lose to Stang, and we ended up losing 2-1. And lastly, we want to win the state tournament, which we ended up losing to Dedham who were the runners-up,” McCarran said. “This year, though, we should be in a better position to attack all three.”
“We want revenge in the Lynn tournament. We have Classical on the (Sept.) 5th, and if we get past them, we want to see Tech again in the final,” McCarran said.
