By Georgia Thelen
Review Staff Writer
The Dragons continue to make progress on the soccer field with sound defensive play and solid goalkeeping, but have come up short offensively.
The Lake Orion Boy’s Varsity Soccer team has a current league record of 1-0.
Their non-league record is 1-2-1 (Brandon 0-0; Rochester 0-1; Seaholm 2-1; vs. Okemos 0-1).
TheVarsity team played their fifth game of the season against Okemos High School on August 26, suffering a tough loss in which they failed to net a goal.
The team played sound defensively and possessed the ball well, but just could not convert in the offensive third of the field.
Despite being unable to score against Okemos, the Dragons have not lost their high hopes for the season, even with the tough field in the OAA Red division.
“I think anytime you’re in the OAA Red with (Rochester) Adams and Stoney Creek and Rochester and Clarkston, every game is a tough game. There are no nights off,” said Coach Matt Paukovits.
This years’ captains are senior goalkeeper Devon Anderson, seniors Jake Negri and Connor Schlitt and junior Nick Chiaramonti.
Negri is a three-year varsity player and three-year starter, so Coach Paukovits and the rest of the varsity team are looking at him to push them to another level.
Adam Chlebek is also a senior this year and is expected to step up his game.
“Chlebek is a senior this year so he is stepping in,” Paukovits said. “We’ve also had a number of guys that have stepped up as sophomores to juniors, and juniors to seniors.”
There are a number of players on the team transitioning from the JV team to varsity, and there are still high expectations for the rest of the fall season, especially from this seasons’ only junior Captain, Nick Chiaramonti.
“I have very high expectations for this season. The team has been working hard since early July so hopefully it will all pay off and we will see a successful season,” said Chiaramonti.