Bengals Boys Soccer Gear Up for 2011 Season

Coming off of a tough 2010 campaign the Bloomfield boys soccer team are working themselves to the bone to gear up for a successful 2011 season. 

"We're looking to take care of the small, little, details in games and hopefully if we do that it will translate to success on the field," said Bengals head coach Billy Mills. The team struggled through 2010 finishing with a 6-11-1 record and hope to change their fortunes in 2011.

The Bengals got one last chance to work out the kinks on Tuesday in a scrimmage against Livingston before their much-anticipated 2011 season opener against rival Nutley on Friday. "Nutley is probably the favorite in our division," said Mills. 

"[Nutley] always underestimates us, whenever we play them we always take the lead, but they always come back," said senior captain Isa Konneh. 

Konneh is one of 13 returning varsity players from last years team and figures to be a integral part to the Bengal offense which is continuing to look for its right stride. "We're [working] a lot on our ball work and a lot of different things that we didn't do last year," said Konneh.

Konneh will be joined in the attack by Kevin Ruiz, Giovanni Rosales, George Romero and Paul Leon. The five attackers showed a lot of chemistry in the transition game, but will need to connect more in the offensive zone if they are to achieve success in 2011. 

Anchoring the defense is sophomore goaltender Noel Saharig who, despite suffering from a minor knee injury in pre-season, managed to win the starting job outright over formidable competition in Ricardo Llanos and Kevin Kaderis. Saharig made little secret to his teammates as to his health reiterating multiple times "I'll be ready for Friday". 

"[Noel] has done a lot of stuff on his own as far as pre-season goes, he goes to goalkeeping training on his own, so he has a bit of an edge," said Mills. In addition if his ability wasn't enough of an endorsement Mills asserted that Saharig offers the most experience in net as well since Llanos is only a freshman and Kaderis has only been playing goal for about a year. 

While Saharig possesses the skills to help carry the Bengals to success he also has four talented defensemen at his disposal to make his job that much easier. Senior captain Tom Noll heads a group of four speedy defenseman including junior David Loza and sophomores Jacob Baca and Raphael Ruiz. The group showed a lot of promise in their last tune-up against Livingston smothering the Lancer offense and only allowing 2 quality-scoring opportunities. 

"We're trying to get these guys to buy in to the little details of the game, moving without the ball, working for each other, defending and attacking as a team and challenging every ball," added Mills.

The Bengals have Thursday off in preparation for the opener at Nutley, which is slated to take place at 4 p.m. at Father Glotzbach Field.