The New Providence varsity boys soccer team has gotten off to a rocky start this season after losing multiple seniors from last year’s roster.  

Head Coach Barclay explained: “It’s a big transition from last year. Obviously we had 15 seniors graduate. We only had like one or two players that had any sort of varsity experience. So it’s been a tough season, challenging season, but I think we’re actually ahead of where I thought we would be. We’re still developing really well.” 

Another issue the Pioneers are facing is the challenge of their placement in Group 2.  

Barclay said:  “We are pretty much the smallest school in our group.  We went from being Group 1 and we’d always be one of the biggest schools. So definitely, there’s challenges, particularly as schools can pick from a pool from so many more players that we have. So we’re up against bigger teams, stronger teams, tougher teams, but we do our best and we compete in every game we play”

Both Barclay and coach Hilf are optimistic about the future.  So many underclassmen have had to step up and play varsity this year, that next year’s squad should be very well prepared.

Hilf said: “The freshmen are fantastic. We have six in particular that have been swinging between the freshman team and the JV team. And they’re really talented, so the future of the program definitely looks bright.”