Warrior Boys’ Soccer Looking To Repeat Last Year’s Success

by Jimmy Yates ’21

 Sherwood boys’ soccer had one of its most successful seasons last year when the team reached the 4A state semi-finals where they lost to BCC 1-0. After the loss of seven seniors to graduation, including standouts Ronald Little and Alhaji Turay, the Warriors are looking for a win against a top team to display their potential to make another deep playoff run.

 The Warriors will get an opportunity to prove themselves tonight against Blair. Last year, Blair got the best of Sherwood, beating them 2-0 in what was the Warriors only loss during the regular season last year. A win tonight will demonstrate that that Sherwood is still a top team and can follow up last years achievements.

 “[Blair is] not an an easy opponent,” said junior forward Brian Nolasco. “I think we’re a team that can beat them, but we have to come out strong the same way we did against Blake. We’re a talented team competing against another talented team. It will be a good game.”

 The Warriors enter tonight’s game with 3-2 regular season record. Sherwood has lost 4-0 to Northwest, and 2-1 to Walter Johnson. These are the only top-tier teams that Sherwood has played so far, so the Warriors are looking for a win to prove they can compete against the best teams in the county and the state. The boys were victorious in a 4-0 win over Paint Branch, a 6-1 win over Springbrook, and a 4-0 victory over Blake. The Warriors have won all of their home games and lost all of their away games.

 The Warriors lost Northwest 4-0 in a downpour on September 8th. Last year, the Warriors beat Walter Johnson, the 2016 4A Maryland State Champions 3-1 by capitalizing on almost every chance that they got. However, on September 26 of this year, the Warriors didn’t play their best game as they fell to the former champs. Sherwood’s lone goal was scored by junior midfielder Diego Ramirez. In the game, the boys “didn’t look urgent crashing the box,” like they did last year, said senior central defender and captain Andrew Ventura. “Our finishing was very poor compared to last year.”