The spring season is ushering in a newfound attitude of player responsibility and a strong sense of teamwork for the boys varsity soccer team.
“The players are taking much more initiative,” senior goalie Jason Warren, senior, said. “After practice or a game people post on our Facebook group what needs to be worked on.”
Warren added that “there is a lot more closeness among the team [and] people talk more outside of practice.”
Captain Filip Gouglev, senior, attributes the new attitude to a difference in determination among the returning players.
“The class who graduated last year was the last class who was there during Marshall soccer’s most successful season,” Gouglev said. “There was definitely a sense of entitlement with some of the players last year.”
According to Gouglev, the players have not yet had a successful year as Marshall soccer players.
“They want to leave [their] mark on the program,” Gouglev said. “As a result, we had huge amounts of people at conditioning and on Green Days.”
The team welcomed Milan M’Bise, a junior who immigrated from Tanzania. M’Bise also favors the bond among the players.
“It’s a privilege,” M’Bise said. “I came in with already organized, trained people.”
Gouglev added that “no [player] believes that they’re better than everyone else.”
Boys soccer head coach William Bak agreed with this sentiment, adding that “there is really a bond they’ve cultivated.”
As for last year, Bak says that the season was more of an “exorcism” than a build. “We had to change the atmosphere.”
The varsity team lost 1-3 to Washington-Lee High School last Thursday and lost 0-5 to West Potomac High School last Tuesday.