AJ Cassapo ’19

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(January 31, 2019) The Strake Jesuit Varsity Soccer team has gotten off to a hot start this 2019 season. The team has a seven and four record and aims to have their second district match-up on February 1st against Alief Elsik. The team is looking to exceed last year’s team, who went all the way to the regional final and lost to Alief Elsik.

Senior Captain, Nico Mattioli, is extremely excited for this season and believes the soccer team will have one of the best season’s in history.

”We have a lot of chemistry, and we’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” Mattioli stated. “Every since our loss last year, we have all been wanting to get back to that point and redeem ourselves.”

Varsity head coach Bill McDonald is optimistic.

“What makes this year special,” Coach McDonald stated, “is that we have a lot of guys in leadership positions that were on the team last year and who can bring together the younger guys as well.”

Is this year’s team headed on the same course as last year’s team?

“Of course,” Coach McDonald affirmed. “Every year is different. In fact, this team came out of non-districts with almost the same record as last year’s team. So yes, I do think these guys can do it.”

The team plans to play Alief Elsik, Alief Hastings, and Pearland in their next three outings.

(Recent varsity soccer results: tied Elsik, 1-1; defeated Hastings, 1-0; defeated Pearland, 2-0; lost to Brazoswood, 1-0)