After winning 12 games, the Boys Varsity soccer team finishes off their season with another win of 1-0 on senior night.  Although this was their last game at LHS, they are now headed to Western Mass playoffs.

Seniors on the team include Captains Ben Woishnis, Evan Dias, Jared Leroux, and Alec Albright. Other senior players are Ryan Goncalves, Brandon Martins, Patrick Pederneira, Alex Goncalves, Bridge Bush, Nicholas Papianou, Matt Lussier, Max Ouimette, Carlos Dacruz, Lucas Angers, and Robert Hitchcock.

When you first walked to the field you saw both boys and girls senior posters shining in the lights with baby pictures and soccer memories. The game kicked off with seniors receiving a rose and running down the field surrounded by their teammates and family.

The boys were looking disappointed, hoping that their senior night game would not end in a tie. But after being tied 0-0, captain Evan Dias scored a goal assisted by Brandon Martins with 2 minutes and 35 seconds left in the second half of the game.

Dias says “it felt good to score on senior night, but it felt even better winning.” He was then congratulated by his teammates when he came off the field for his game winning goal.

The boys were overjoyed by their 13th win, but also came to the realization that this was the last time they would step on the field at LHS. Many of the boys have played together since they were young and realized they may never take the field together again. Others were taking in the moment of their last soccer game, as many do not plan to play in college.

When asked to describe how he felt in the moment, Dias said “it was definitely upsetting to know that I will never step foot on that field again. It was definitely a feeling I will never forget.”

Captain Jared Leroux said  “it’s going to suck not to be able to play there anymore, but I’m glad I had the opportunity to.” But overall Leroux enjoyed being captain this year, and took pride in the fact that “people still looked to me for advice even though we are the same age and have the same experience playing soccer.”

Unfortunately not all the seniors were able to take the field for their last home game. More than half the seniors on the team were not put in at all during the game. Senior Lucas Angers said “Every senior is good enough to play on the team and we practice every week to get some minutes”, and that it was overall “really unfair.”

The captains showed sympathy for their senior teammates that didn’t get a chance to take the field. One captain said he felt bad because the seniors “are capable enough to hold their own on the field for a couple minutes at least”, and that “senior night is a night where all the seniors should at least touch the field.” Another captain said “it was upsetting not to see my friends play.”

The senior boys now look toward to future as they prepare for the Western Mass playoffs in hopes for some playing time.

As for the girls, their senior night ended in a tie of 0-0 against West Springfield leaving them one point away from making it into playoffs.