The Huntsville High School Senior Boys soccer team are off to a torrid start, opening their season with three consecutive shutout victories while scoring 14 total goals to put them in first place in the MPS standings.
The team saw a total of 27 athletes try out at the beginning of September for a coveted spot on the roster. Last year’s GBSSA junior team all moved up to the next level to compliment the senior players, a move that looks to be paying early dividends according to coach John Cowan.
The Hoyas first Muskoka Parry Sound (MPS) league game came against Almaguin Highlands Secondary School in Sundridge last Thursday. Huntsville keeper Jack Armstrong played a solid match in recording the shutout, while Devon Burmeister led the offense with two goals. Evan Mashinter and Aarick Lupton also scored for the Hoyas, who put constant pressure on Almaguin keeper Brodie Murphy throughout the game en route to the 4-0 win.
Huntsville next played St. Dominic’s Secondary School, a younger and less experienced team than the Hoyas, and they quickly scored three goals over an 8-minute span in the first half. Pushing their lead to 4-0 before the intermission, the Hoyas saw continually improving team chemistry as they practiced some new strategies anticipated to be seen in future games, working on transitional play by sending the ball to their own keeper and experimenting different ways to send the ball from defending to the attacking third.
In the last three minutes of regulation, Huntsville scored two additional goals, cementing their victory with a dominant 7-0 final. Back-up keeper Zack Farnsworth was given credit for the shutout while Burmeister tacked on two more goals to push his total to a team-leading four. Mashinter also scored twice for the Hoyas, in addition to tallies from Chris Aben, Teodor Katsarov and Brett Zylstra.
The Hoyas continued their shutout streak in their home opener this past Thursday with a 3-0 victory over Bracebridge, with backup Farnsworth winning his second straight game. Burmeister again found the back of the net to give him goals in all three regular season games for the Hoyas, while Katsarov and Parent also scored for Huntsville.
Cowan credits the team’s early success to lessons learned during the Hoyas pre-season exhibition tournament in Bracebridge. Despite dropping both games by identical 1-0 scores, the boys played well and dominated possession of the ball throughout.
“We were appreciative of the exhibition tournament as it provided the players some insight into areas for improvement,” said Cowan.
The Hoyas next game will come on Tuesday, October 13 at home against Parry Sound.
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