The Titans’ boys varsity soccer team is undefeated. At this time last year they had a record of 3-2-2. Their weapon-packed defense has been a key to their success this season.

“We are very fortunate to have a very strong defensive unit. Our back line- Cole, Conor, Jordan, and Juan is easily one of the better units in the area. We are also fortunate to have a great defensive midfielder, Jacques, who helps to shield the backline. Each one brings a unique set of skills.” says Coach Abed.

He goes on to say, “Some teams in the area struggle to find one good goalkeeper and we are fortunate enough to have three we can rely on.” 

The Titans have a great lineup which leads to their defensive success led by senior and team captain Cole Penczar. Penczar shares that he brings, “A loud, strong presence that makes people second guess themselves while they’re attacking.”

This has proven to be effective so far, as the Titans have only let in 8 goals in 8 games. Their game versus Lewis High School is the only matchup where they conceded more than one goal. The team’s mentality has been to impose their style of play on the opposing team.

“This is a very hungry group of players. We have a very deep, technical group of players and all of them are capable of playing a really nice style of soccer.” said Coach Abed. 

As a team, we are still developing our style and consistency, but there is a lot of potential with this group. We have some fantastic competitors on this team who are willing to do anything that helps their team win. 

Success is the mentality of this team.  

 “Win!  If you’re not playing to win, what’s the point of playing at all?” said Stanford University commit Dillon Logan about his mentality. (He scored one goal against James Madison Thursday, bringing his total goals on the season to 6.)

Center back Cole Penczar said, “Go in and do my best, can’t do anything more than that.”  

Senior Titan forward Omar Almushalleh said, “Give everything I got, playing my best and wanting to get that dub.” The team’s mentality is solid and they hope to continue their winning ways. 

Coach Abed shares his thoughts on what’s been going right this season.  

 “I think we are still figuring out what our best combinations of players are and which formations are best in different situations. This is a long process that can sometimes take most of the season to fully work out.” he said. 

“A lot of us have been playing together as early as elementary school. We have a chemistry and a connection with one another that can’t be taught, which makes us stand out from our opponent and is why we are undefeated so far, said Logan.

Team chemistry is one of the most important things in sports, and is what differentiates good teams from great teams. Although players feel they have a good bond, Coach Abed says, “There are always a few phases in team building and I think right now we are on the path towards performing at our best, but we need to watch out for some of the pitfalls that come with early success. Overconfidence can end a season just as quickly as any loss.”

He goes on to say, “One of the biggest challenges every season is to get a really talented group of players to understand how to put their egos on the side to achieve something great. It is hard to sit on the bench when you believe you should be starting on the field.”

He feels, “We have the ability to be a lethal team on set pieces, but that is something that we have not gotten enough time to work on.”

Lastly, he says, “I think we can be a really intelligent pressing team, but we need to continue to build on the success we have had early in the season.”

No matter how successful any team is, no team is perfect, so this team still has some things they can build on.

Almushalleh thinks the team needs to work on their work ethic.

“We need to stay composed throughout the game, if we get scored on or the ref makes a bad call, we can’t let it get under our skin.” says Logan.

To continue their winning streak this season the team needs to “Not get overconfident. We need to treat every game with the same respect.” Penczar commented.

Fan atmosphere is super important to sports players, and adds to their competitive spirit and can sometimes improve their performance.

“I wish we got a little more support from the student body if I’m being honest. We are consistently one of the better soccer teams in the area, soccer is one of it not the most popular sports at AC and our players are extremely talented. Whenever we have a big crowd, the team definitely feeds off of that energy.” said Coach Abed.

Each player is emotionally affected by how their crowd shows out, especially when they can hear them getting excited and cheering for them.

“Absolutely. We felt it a lot during our last district game against Robinson. It fueled us and helped us get that winning goal in the final minutes.” Logan commented.

“The fan atmosphere does affect the way I play when the fan base is hyped.” said Almushalleh.

The team has been playing amazing so far this season, staying undefeated for as long as they have, their performances can only get better from here and they need fans to show out to inspire them to keep up their form and momentum.

With the fans help the team is aiming to achieve regional finals this year which will be hosted at the Titans home field. The last time they hosted a regional final at the Titans home field was in 2019 where they had a massive crowd to support the boys varsity team. Coach Abed is hoping for a repeat of that this season.