The Dwight Boys Varsity Soccer Team is finally back, after a year hiatus due to COVID-19. Led by coach Aken-Tyers, and anchored by a group of seniors: Kyle Mulligan, Luca Tornambe, Tommy Bodji, Blaze Cameron, Sam Weisleder and Andres Villarreal. Throughout the season, these determined athletes had many challenges but one of the biggest challenges was that we didn’t have a lot of seniors. Other teams that Dwight faced had a team built from older and more experienced athletes, but this didn’t deter the boys from giving it their all this year. Any other team may have been overwhelmed managing athletes with various skillsets and levels of experience playing the game. This turned into an advantage for the Dwight team as they were able to grow closer as a team and learn from each other. The competition this season was stiff, and the Dwight boys ended up having a difficult season, experiencing more losses and ties than anticipated. The boys found joy in winning these tough matches, as it was a morale boost and reassurance that their training and hard work was paying off. As the season progressed, the matches became more important. An extremely important game was Dwight vs Saint Ann’s where that game was going to determine if the team advanced to the playoffs or not. As a result, they won 2-1 securing a spot in the playoffs. At the semifinal game versus Friends, the game went into penalty shots and overtime – with Dwight finally winning and sending them to the finals! Dwight hadn’t been to the playoffs since 2010, which meant that getting this far was a huge accomplishment for the team. In conclusion, one of the seniors shared: “When looking back at my senior soccer season it was a success because even though we lost the finals we grew as a team and showed what Dwight soccer really is. Throughout the years Dwight’s soccer hasn’t made much progress in advancing to the playoffs and this year was the first year in 10 years that Dwight had made it to the finals. With limited Seniors on the team we still managed to go into the finals when no one expected us to because our team had chemistry. Something that I learned from this experience was that if you want something in life you have to work your ass off for it because it will never come easy and without our dedication and our commitment as a team we would’ve made it to the finals.”