Recently, the varsity boys soccer team’s goalie, Roland Bentley ’25, broke both of his collar bones during a match on Friday.

     Marcus Hedlund ’23 said, “None of us actually had thought he was injured that badly.” His injury was a big shock to everyone.

     After the fact, Liam Coley ’25 sent his well wishes to Bentley: “We miss you and wish that you were here. I hope that you’re feeling better.”

   Head Coach Tamba Johnson said, “It’s never easy losing the starting goalie you were counting on.” The entire process of finding a temporary goalie was asking people from Varsity to step up, asking JV players, and even people who were athletic, but did not play soccer. After Bentley got injured, the team had two practices just dedicated to shooting balls at people who could fill in Bentley’s spot. Hedlund said that “[we] probably had like half the team try out playing goalie at some point during practice.” Eventually, after constantly kicking balls at the players trying out for goalie.

It was evident that Ben Fox ’24, a captain usually in the center mid defense position, was the best. Fox wasn’t forced to make this switch by coaches. The willingness to switch shows his dedication to the team.

    “Our team is coming together a lot more… we have more younger people, so it’s kind of just us getting to know each other better,”  Johnson explained, “I feel like the guys over there realize that they gotta step up and do more. Play a little bit harder, knowing that we gotta take a little less chances in the back… so the guys just had to step up the effort defensively.”

      Hedlund, a center back, said that “We can step up and kind of help him [Fox] out like that.” The team has a strong midfield and their defense has been great. The soccer team won both of their Conference matches against Providence Academy (2-1) and St. Paul Academy (1-0). 

     Johnson said, “We always worked hard, but I do think people are more mindful, making that extra little run. These guys compete very hard.”