With a new year and a fresh start, Carlmont varsity soccer players are very excited for this year’s season.

Last year the boys varsity team made it to the first round of CCS, but unfortunately they lost to Santa Teresa.

This year the team has very high expectations.

“I expect the team to do extremely well this year because we have a great squad and have conditioned to make sure we can endure the entire season,” said defender and defensive midfield player Justin Quan.

Quan was captain of the team last year and has passed the torch to fellow teammates Andrew Durlofsky, Justin Harpster, and Ryan Freeman.

Captain Andrew Durlofsky, who plays outside midfielder, said, “Our team this year has a lot of talent and depth in all positions, which is part of the reason why we’ve been working so hard at practices, we know we have the potential to do big things and I expect to see some awards at the end of the season!”

Attacking Midfielder Luke Petersen also has lots of faith in his team, “We have two strong capable goalkeepers who perform well in tight games, a very solid defence, a hard working midfield, and forwards who are able to link together and put away goals we need.”

In addition to the strong team, the boys varsity soccer players have an experienced coach, Jodi Beloff who has coached the varsity team for several years.

The varsity girls team also went very far into the season last year. They were undefeated and won PALs, making it into CCS.

This year the captains of the girls team are Emily Cox, Mary Cochran, Veronica Pontis, Melissa Wood, and Amelia Jacobs.

Team captain Emily Cox, left outside defender said, “I expect our girls to push and work together every time we step onto the field. We have the potential to do amazing things.”

The team captain Mary Cochran, who plays forward, is also very optimistic for this years team, “this year we have a really strong team that works well together, we never give up and always stay strong until the very end.”

As for this year’s season the girls are very determined.

“I hope this season we can dominate in CCS and take the championship,” said forward Laura Bowker.

“Everyone not only has such amazing talent, we all have great chemistry and we all get along which translates into our games,” said outside midfielder Natalia Manzanares.

With Tina Doss as their coach, the team hopes to do very well.