The Mahopac boys soccer team has had high hopes coming to the last few seasons, only to see those hopes fade behind inconsistency.
But this was Mahopac’s year to shine, and the Wolf Pac did not disappoint, rolling to the program’s first-ever league title, and a trip to the Section 1 Class AA championship game, where the No. 2 seed Pac lost to No. 1 Harrison.
Mahopac also finished with the best record in program history at 17-2-1 and had seven players take home post-season honors.
“It was an incredible season,” sixth-year head coach Chris Mulholland said. “If you told me at the beginning that we’d be 17-2-1, I’d have been ecstatic. Losing at the end, that was tough. But it was great to see them step up during the season and accomplish what they did.
“We started out well, with just one slip (loss) against Lakeland,” Mulholland added. “But that turned out to be a good re-focusing point, and we took our game to another level after that. We went on to dominate games, which was great to see.”
Senior captains Aidan Paris-Devane and Oliver Filip, along with senior midfielder Justin Chin, earned All-Section and All-League honors, with Paris-Devane also taking home League MVP accolades.
Senior captain and defender James Healy, junior defender Michael Oteng, and sophomores Nikolas Portanova (midfield), and Jeremy Fuentes (forward) earned All-League recognition.
The team loses eight seniors, including five key starters, but returns experience and talent, so Mulholland believes more good things lie ahead.
“Obviously it will hurt to lose those five,” he said. “But we started four sophomores and a freshman, so we’ll return experience. And we have guys ready to get on the field and contribute. There’s a lot of trust that the guys will keep up the mentality, and I think we can be competitive again.”
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