By Beau W. Peterlin ’10
THE ROUNDUP

“Ole! Ole! Ole!” will soon be heard echoing from the sidelines of Loyola Field as the Bronco soccer team takes to the turf for this upcoming season.

The soccer team has one preseason scrimmage and opened game play on Dec. 1 against Horizon High School on Loyola Field at 6 p.m.

This year’s team started with tryouts where 90 hopefuls were looking for spots on either varsity or junior varsity team. The varsity team this year has 23 students and many young players, including five freshman and two sophomores.

However, despite many new arrivals and loss of seniors from last year’s team, head coach Mr. Marc Kelly ’87 has faith in his freshmen. Especially a select few known as the “Fab-Five.”

“I think many of those could play and probably will play and may get starting spots,” Mr. Kelly said.
Even though the team is heavily weighted in underclassmen “the seniors are—I think—our top players,” Mr. Kelly said.

Some of the seniors to look for this season are goalie Patrick Poblete ’10, Graham Smith ’10 and Brian Hines ’10.

Mr. Kelly also said he believes that his very team is well rounded. This should help as they play some of the top teams in the country over winter break in the Oceanside Tournament in California.

“We’re solid, we have good players, we’re good throughout offense/defense. It should be a good year for us,” said Mark Mandalla ’11, a recently injured player.

Follow the soccer season online at www.brophysoccer.com.