Boys soccer season is here! They are all super excited and enthusiastic to kick off the 2023-2024 season! The boys are driven to win and practice hard every day of the week.
They currently began their pre-season games, commencing Wednesday, November 15, tying against James A. Foshay Learning Center. They will continuously have games up until February 2nd against Bell.
This year, the Varsity captains are Kevin V. and Edwin N, and the goalies are Frankie M. and Randy C. Many returners like Frankie and Kevin, are eager to express themselves out on the field and show their wonderful skills as a competitors. Moving on, new players are rolling in from Aspire Pacific Academy this season as well, as they are interested in being a part of the amazing team we have at the school.
Carlos Chavez, Senior, has been playing soccer for 7 years, but has been playing soccer at HP going on 4 years. Some goals he has for himself this season are to “learn how to be a better playmaker and master how to communicate with his teammates better”.
He states that a goal the entire team has at the moment is “to understand and individually get to know each other better, to merge as a group, and to win”.
Some things he thinks he can improve on are his skills and the process of knowledge he maintains throughout games. Something he likes best about the team is that they’re all determined and optimistic about reaching their desired objective.
Last season, the boys had a 0.33 win percentage, and made it to the D2 CIF LA City section Boys’ soccer championships, which Coach Bonilla led. Coach Bonilla has been coaching soccer at HP for 14 years. He has hopefulness this season to compete for the league title.
Some things he thinks that the team could improve on as a whole is “a system in general since there are a lot of players on both varsity and JV”.
Bonilla’s goal this season is all based on improvement! He would love to see the players grow, flourish, and improve as they move along the season. Finally, he would like the boys to keep in mind while they’re on the field that they need to “understand certain situations of the game”. This includes the positions they are assigned, where they need to be, and what they need to do for them to come together and be successful this season.
Written by Gianna Escobar, staff writer