The Hollis Brookline High School boys JV soccer team started their season off strong, going undefeated for their first seven games. It was believed that they couldn’t be beaten, but apparently they could. After an intense match with Coe-Brown Northwood Academy, they lost 3-0.

“For a while we didn’t have any losses and I think we got a little ahead of ourselves and our egos got a little in the way,” said Coach Alison Wittig. “So when we finally had our loss it was kind of a rude awakening.”

This year was Wittig’s first year coaching at HBHS and her first year ever coaching boys. She played D1 soccer at Rice College and has coached girls soccer many times before, but coaching boys is a new and exciting experience.

“I just like developing players,” said Wittig. “And it’s about not only what you do with them on the soccer field, but you’re developing young men. I think that’s more important than the soccer piece itself.”

“We bicker at each other, and I think that that’s what brings us down,” said Alex Gertz, a captain of the team, about the team’s challenges this season.

“We’ve been working on that a lot this year. We also have a lot of young personalities on the team so they can be easily distracted and that plays into the arguing,” said Wittig. “During practice when they’re goofing around or not motivated, they do 10 pushups each time.”

A crucial part of creating a winning team is having team chemistry. Something that can often be tough to do when you have players from three different grades, as well as a new coach, but somehow this team pulled it off.

“I think we have very good chemistry together and we pass the ball well so it makes us have more opportunities to score,” said Gertz.

Chemistry was a key component in the team’s early winning streak and maintaining a good record throughout the season. There were two especially tough games during the season; Oyster River and Merrimack Valley. Early on in the season, the team pulled through after an intense game and beat Merrimack Valley but they could not quite go all the way against Oyster River in which they tied.

“For both games we came out with really high intensity and were mentally prepared and that was noticeable and we had really good chemistry on the field,” said Wittig on the team’s performance in these games. “My philosophy with the guys is just, play with heart, put your best effort in when you’re on the field, so if we win, lose or tie, I’m okay with that.”

The JV Boys Soccer team closed out their season on October 23 at the Nashua North Jamboree tournament in which they lost 1-0 in the semifinals against the Division 1 top ranked team, Windham. Their final record for the season was 9-2-1.