The Solon Boys Soccer team’s season came to an end on Wednesday, October 27 after their playoff hopes were dashed by Uniontown-Lake in a shootout that ended 5-4. The team finished their season at 7-7-4.

As his high school soccer career came to an end, team captain Benjamin Garfield looked back on his last season and saw significant improvement.

“The beginning of the season was definitely hard without [goalie] Ethan Smith and having [him] back has definitely helped us have lots of confidence,” said Garfield, a defender on the team.

In spite of 13 varsity players graduating this year, Garfield expressed an optimistic view of the future.

“I see a lot of star power in the juniors,” he said. “Emilio Canela, Re’em Cronin, Johnny Strosaker are absolute dogs on the field… and as seniors I’m [excited] to see what they do.”

Garfield’s teammate, senior Tyler Pollock, felt similarly.

“There’s a lot of talented players in the program,” he said. “I know they’re going to be great next year.”

Senior Hailey Weisberg, who describes herself as a “devoted fan of the soccer team” was very happy about how the season went.

“The energy from the soccer team was so good, and I’m just so proud of them… it’s been so fun watching the team and I wish all the best for them,” Weisberg said.

This year marked the start of coach Mina Shahata’s leadership of the team, following the resignation of former coach Ryan Greenhill. Soccer players were happy with coach Shahata’s work with the team.

“I give my coach a lot of credit… he’s done a really good job,” Garfield said. “He’s a great man. I love him.”

Pollock also had positive things to say about his new coach.

“We were all a little uncertain what we were going to step into coming into because we’d had our old coach throughout [our] youth and high school, but [Shahata’s] been really good,” Pollock said. “He’s a really nice guy. I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to step in.”

Soccer player Mark Groff agreed with the sentiment shared by Pollock and Garfield.

“With a new coach, it was definitely a change of pace from last season,” Groff said. “While the result wasn’t what we wanted, the time I spent with my teammates will never be forgotten.”

Though many players looked back happily on this past season, the team faced tragedy over the summer after the death of assistant coach Hayden Kaiser.

“We do everything for him,” Garfield said. “We say ‘History for Hayden’ after every game.”

Pollock held a similar view.

“It really pushed us to be our best selves,” Pollock said. “Coach Hayden was a great coach and a great guy. We know he’s watching over us… it pushes us to play our best game… and be the team we know he thought we could be.”

The team Pollock played with will continue to have an impact on him well-past his time at Solon High School.

“It’s meant more than anything to me,” Pollock said. “I’ve played with these same guys… since we were like 5 or 6, so being able to all be on the same field together, playing for the common goal, it’s great. I’ve really enjoyed it.”