Senior midfielder Danny Dubeck and senior defender Tyler Schedlbauer were named two of the top 30 soccer players in Oakland County by MI Prep Zone on September 9. Despite having these two on a strong team, the soccer squad has been practicing often to prepare for what they say will be a tough season.

“In the summer, we condition as well as scrimmage in our summer league,” senior midfielder Johnny Stathakios said. “Most kids also play soccer year round on travel teams.”

Athletic director Mr. Luke Beach explains the difficulty the soccer team will face in the Oakland Activities Conference.

“This season will be extremely challenging due to the great competition on the schedule,” Mr. Beach said.

With top 10 players senior midfielder Jack Lucci and sophomore midfielder Pablo Kulyckyj, Stoney Creek will be a challenge to beat.

“Stoney Creek will provide tough competition,” Schedlbauer said. “They have all played soccer together at some point. Most of their players have played club since they’ve been young.”

Despite the tough competition, the team’s goal is the same: make the playoffs.

“We’re off to a slower start than we would like, but our goal is still to advance in the playoffs,” Stathakios said. “Hopefully, we’ll win districts.”

To reach that goal, the team will have to replace the talent that left with the last year’s seniors.

“We had a lot of talented players last year,” junior midfielder Noah Suleskey said. “Spiro Pliakos, Thomas Forde, Evan Asuncion and the rest of the seniors will be tough to replace.”

Their talent isn’t the only reason that the graduated seniors will be missed.

“The biggest thing we’ve lost since last year is size,” Stathakios said. “Last year our team was physically big, strong and intimidating. This year we’re a much smaller group.”

The team will have to make up for its lack of size in different ways.

“One of our strengths is how well we work together,” Schedlbauer said. “We all have good relation with each other and communicate well.”

Injuries have been a big factor in recent years. Staying healthy will be key to the team’s success this season.

“Towards the end of last year, we suffered a lot of injuries,” Suleskey said. “This year we want to stay strong throughout.”

Stathakios agrees.

“Injuries have always hurt us in the past,” Stathakios said. “So far this year, we haven’t been injured, and hope not to have any detrimental injuries.”

An immediate goal for the team is to work on communication.

“Our team needs to work on connecting lines between our midfield and the defense,” Schedlbauer said. “The gap in the middle has been a problem.”

If able to maintain commitment and minimize injuries, the team has an optimistic view.

“We’re a pretty good technical team, but we have to fix the little things to be successful,” Suleskey said. “We have a good team and coaches. We just need to get on the right track and we’ll be successful.”