Dover High School Dragon Soccer 2007

The Dover Dragons have a very strong history in soccer, and coach Bob Esposito says the team can continue to be successful with returning starters and new starters who do have varsity experience.

“We have three starters returning from last year,” said coach Esposito. “We have 11 returning players, but only three returning starters, and all three of those are seniors. We have ten seniors total this year, and one of those is new to soccer this year, although he has played basketball and baseball at Dover.

“Our record last year 13-3-1. We went to the section semifinals, and we lost 2-1 to Bronxville. We had an outstanding team last year, and that was a very tough loss, a difficult way to end our season, but the team had a great year.

“We are in a very good league, North Salem and Keio and so forth, and Keith Yungel will bring that Pawling program back. I know that, because he used to play in the clubs with us. Keith will do a great job there at Pawling.”

Varsity roster: Eric Kelly, Matt O’Neil, Shaun Marshall, Nick Quinn, Christian Jorgensen, Jason Paradis, Scott Garcia, Arlex Leon, Gene Boo, Ed Sheehan, Jesse Franks, Joe Casson, Eric Merling, Joe Vinci, Steve Wool, Dillon Nugent, Mike Lloyd, Joe Stanley, Jorge Aldano, Hunter Marshall, Marco Hernandez and John Ferraro.

The Dragons had a rough day on Thursday in a scrimmage at home with Carmel, but Esposito said he was not concerned, because he had played what he thinks may be his starting 11 for only the first of four 20-minute periods. He told the players after the scrimmage that most of the starting spots are still to be decided, and he told them that they still have a great opportunity to play well in practice and earn a starting spot or playing time.

Esposito is also emphasizing that practice time is crucial for this team, because they have just the three returning starters, and in the Dover style, everything counts on teamwork and the players knowing and trusting one another.

As the coach explained, “We play a possession style game, meaning that some teams kick the ball down the field and try to run under it and score, but we work the ball down the field with short passes, and constant motion, everybody in motion. That is our style.

“Yes, you have to run off the ball all the time. We generally don’t want a player to hold the ball, but we do have some people who have free rein to dribble more than others. We try to control our dribbles in terms of seconds, five or six seconds and you need to get rid of the ball. If you watch a pro game, they dump it in three seconds. If you beat a guy and you have space to run to, that is fine, and when another guy comes up, you make the pass.

“We play really a 3-5-2, and it swings around. We don’t stay in the same formation during a game. It throws off other teams, because we are always in motion. We start out as a 3-5-2, and then we will go to a 3-4-3 and a 3-6-1. We move around a lot, and it throws a lot of people off. Guys are going in and out all the time, and that is a lot of motion. It is a lot of work on their part, but our kids buy into it.”

The constant motion requires top conditioning, and when Esposito expects the players to be running all the time, he also plans to use substitution to keep the players on the field fresh and able to run.

As he said, “The way we play, our outside midfielders go, if not 18 to the goal line, sometimes goal line to goal line. The outside mids do a lot of running. They make a lot of lateral runs, whereas the inside mids move more in and out.

“You have to be very well conditioned to play our style, and we also use substitution to keep people fresh. We may have 25 guys on the varsity this year, and we will have a JV of about 17 players. We have a big junior class. I have talked with them, and I have given them the option of staying with the varsity and working, but no guarantee of how much playing time, or going back to the JV. All of them have chosen to stay with the varsity.

“And they know, I have 11 guys on the field, and the 11 best play all the time. If during the week, in two days of practice, one guy is showing well, he gets the start. That leads to intensive competition. Also, somebody who can play adequately in two or three spots has a better chance of playing than someone who can only play one position.

“I will play 15-16 during the game, moving them in and out. Too much substitution, and the guys can’t get into the game and the particular opponent. You have to know who needs to come out and when.”

While many positions are open, Esposito does know that he will be counting on certain players who have either started, or have gained experience as substitutes in past years.

“Our center mid is Nick Esposito,” the coach said. “The right outside back is Matt O’Neill. Eric Kelly is an outside midfielder, also a senior, and those are the three returning starters.

“As for scoring, we have two really strong competitors who were reserves last year, because that is how competitive the team is, and they will start this year. They are Scott Garcia and Jorge Aldano. Scott is a senior, but Jorge is only a sophomore. Jorge is an out-and-out striker, and Scott is a combination midfield and striker. He plays what we call a schemer. I expect big things from both of those guys, and from Eric Kelly, who can score from outside.

“I like my solid players and speed in the back and on the outside. We have exceptional speed all through the back three, the defenders. They can cover. We have two guys who got time last year, and now they will step up as starters, John Ferraro and Shaun Marshall. Once they and Matt O’Neill get into sync, with the speed that all three of those guys have, it is very nice.

“I have speed all over the field. I love speed, and that is exactly it, you can’t teach speed.

“Ryan Snyder was all-everything last year, and he is playing soccer in college this year. His are very big shoes to fill. A player like him comes along once in a great while. But we have two guys who are working at that position. Gene Boo was the JV keeper for the last two years. We have a transfer student from Ohio, Eric Merling, and they are both doing well in the workouts. Our defenders will have to work a little harder, without Ryan in goal. That may also change the way we play defense. We may play with two stoppers instead of a holding midfielder, it depends on how fast the backs come together as a unit.

“We have the three backs, and then in the middle, we would have an offensive mid and two holding mids. We call them defensive mids, or if they just stay back, it is a stopper for us. Until they get their sea legs, we may have to play it that way.

“The guys who are in there have been in the system. They have not been starters, but they have practiced the system and they know it. It is just a matter of these guys learning to play together as a team.

“We have to find eight starters, but turnover is what high school is all about, and we have some outstanding soccer players who are ready to step up and be the starters. We have had real good success over the years. We have won three league championships in a row, in Section I Class B. I have told them, there are very few teams that have won four in a row, but these are the goals that we set. Every year in the spring and pre-season, we set goals, and we had guys who work all spring with us. We had conditioning camp during the summer, and every one of the varsity candidates came to those sessions. It is just conditioning for two hours, running, strength conditioning with push-ups and crawls and all of that, and they were all there, including some JV and some modified guys.”