JV Boys Soccer wins City Title

By Johnny Stacewicz

The JV Boys’s Soccer Team beat Kelly High School 4-0 on Sept. 15 at McKinley High School to win City for the first time in six years. Sophomore Abraham Sandoval scored three goals in the first half, including one on a bicycle kick and another on a diving header. Freshman Robert Peia added a fourth goal for Lane in the second half. Junior Zorohn Reed played solid in goal, making “three amazing saves,” according to Head Coach, Mrs. Vale-Suarez. Sandoval and Reed were both lifted up and carried off the field in celebration after the game.

Athletes of the Issue

Sergio Fuentes, Div. 454

&

Jose Fuentes, Div. 452

Sergio and Jose Fuentes are identical twins and the only freshmen on Lane’s Varsity Soccer team. Jose starts at right midfield and has scored five goals this season. His older brother, Sergio, starts at attacking midfield and has scored six. The twins have played a major role in the success of the team.

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Sergio Busquets Athlete Christiano Ronaldo

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Warrior: How does it feel being the only two freshmen on Varsity?

SF: It’s a great feeling being the only two freshmen on the team. It’s an amazing experience. It’s something I am going to remember. I’m really looking forward to my next years on the team.

JF: It’s a really good feeling being on varsity as a freshman. I know it is not an easy thing to do. I am really proud of my brother and myself.

Warrior: What is the biggest difference in your style of play?

SF: I attack more on offense and I am just more of a beast (laughs.)

JF: I am way faster than he is. And my shot is better, for sure.

Warrior: Who is the biggest influence in your life?

SF: The one person who has helped me the most in getting where I am today is my mother. She is always on the the sidelines cheering me on. She always provides me with all I need to become the person I am today.

JF: My mom is the one person who has really helped me. She is always at our games and practices. I know i would not be able to do this without her.

It’s a hard-knock life for athletes

By Johnny Stacewicz

Hat tricks do not come often in sports, especially in soccer. Three scores by a single player in one game is a a rarity. My last hat trick came on July 13, 2006. I had just scored the last of my three goals to put our team up six to four against a team from California. In celebration, one of my teammates jumped into my arms and I immediately went down. The tone went from joyous to concerned. My teammates gathered around and tried to help me up, but my left leg just would not work. I had dislocated my knee cap for the first time.

In high school, there is no money, no cars, no fame. The practices are long, the equipment is not exactly grade A, and at the end of the day, dead tired and dirty, athletes have to go home and do homework. The main differences between high school and the pros is not just skill, it is our for the love of the game.

As a kid, I bounced off the walls constantly. It drove my teachers and parents crazy. I needed something that would not only keep my attention, but something that could keep up with me.

Soccer saved me. I think every kid should play. Soccer equipment is dirt cheap. The only real thing you need is a ball and a flat surface, and the game never stops. I fell in love with it. Then, the summer after seventh grade, genetically bad knees caught up with me.

Since seventh grade, I have dislocated my knee cap four times and had three surgeries. Due to a sprained knee and a small tear in my meniscus, my senior season ended early.

As high school athletes, we give sports everything we have and sometimes they turn their backs on us. Whether you are a football player with a broken ankle, a baseball player with a bad elbow, a soccer player with a bad knee, or another athlete whose body has begun to give up on them, it can be hard to see the bigger picture right away. I know it feels like you have nothing. The one thing you were good at, the one place that you could go to get away, was taken from you. You did everything people asked of you and it was still taken away. When it happens, nothing can be said or done to give back what was taken.

I know the heartbreak. It is hard to live with, but the sooner you get over it the better. Whether they made a mistake in a game or got injured on the field, athletes need to have a selective memory. Forget the bad and move on.

What happens to the greatest athletes when they lose? They get back up and work harder. That is exactly what we need to do: pick ourselves up, clean ourselves off, and work because that is what we are best at.

There is a certain strength that cannot be lifted or squatted. It is the strength one gets when you are on crutches and take the stairs anyway. It is the strength that comes when you go to physical therapy three times a week for two months learning how to run again. It is the strength that comes from keeping your head up when you have every reason to let it hang.

For everyone of you that has been forced to say goodbye to something you love before you were ready, it is time to get up and get to work. Because that is what we do. We roll with adversity, and get back to work.

Softball team stays undefeated

By Johnny Stacewicz

“Honestly, my favorite part of being a [softball] manager is listening to Tim Feeley sing songs from Glee everyday,” said Mia Irizarray, Div. 279.

The laid back attitude of the players and the constant jokes that surround team practices disappears, however, come game time. The team knows when to get serious.

After beating Kennedy on Wednesday, the team’s record improved to an impressive 24-0, which has surprised neither coaches or players.

“The chemistry and the raw talent on the team is absolutely insane,” said Patrick O’Connell, Div. 182, the longest tenured player on the team.

Coach Stravakis, who has been coaching boys’ softball for seven years, has never had a more talented group.

“[This year’s team] is the most talented group we have had in the last seven years. [However,] that does not guarantee us anything,” Stravakis said.

One of the biggest differences of this year’s team is that for the first time in recent years some of the more talented player’s on the Varsity Baseball Team tried out. Jackson Perri, Div. 185, who is being scouted by some Division III schools for baseball, decided to play softball his senior year. Previously, he had refused to play softball because he thought it would negatively affect him in baseball.

In last year’s October issue of the Warrior, Perri was quoted as saying, “I was always good at softball, but I didn’t try out because I felt it would mess up my swing in baseball.”

Perri had a change of heart, however, and now is the starting left fielder on the softball team – the same position he can be found playing on the baseball field come spring time.

“I have always played softball. I figured it was my senior year. There is no next year. I just said, ‘screw it. I am going to play’,” Perri said.

Tim Feeley, Div. 155, a pitcher on the Varisty baseball team, is also in his rookie season as a softball player.

“The great history and tradition is what really drew me to softball. I have wanted to play since freshman year, but because of baseball I couldn’t,” Feeley said.

Anthony Morici, Div. 168, who played baseball freshman and sophomore year, enjoys the more-laid back attitude of softball.

“[I like softball more because] it’s more laid back and we are actually going to win,” he said.

The team has won all but four of their games by slaughter rule. The team made it to the City semi-finals beating Phoenix Military Academy on Oct. 18, and Kennedy on Oct. 20. The City championship, scheduled to be played at UIC on Oct. 25, did not have a result at press time.

Stravakis wants his team to stay focused and humble. He is encouraging players and fans to remember that their success is due to a complete team effort, and not purely because this year’s team has baseball players on the roster.

“I didn’t know we had baseball players, but I will say that our success has come from all of our softball players contributing,” Stravakis said.

Feeley’s off pitch singing has been somewhat of a good luck charm. As painful as it is to his teammates ears, they hope it continues all the way to UIC.