Senior-heavy Riverview boys build for playoff run

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, August 28, 2017 | 10:39 PM

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There's good news and bad news for Riverview's boys soccer team this fall.

The good news? With eight senior starters, several of whom began playing significant roles as freshmen, the Raiders boast one of their most experienced rosters. But that also relates to the bad news.

“It's nice having the experience out on the field, but it's also that point where you're thinking ahead of oh, man, what are we going to do next year?” Riverview coach Mickey Namey said. “So it's good and bad. I look out there and think this is what we've been waiting for, and at the same time, in the back of my mind, I think, oh man.”

Next year Riverview faces difficulties, but the Raiders have the potential to make life hard for their opponents even after missing the playoffs each of the past two seasons.

“Our goal is anything less than the WPIAL championship game is not acceptable,” Namey said. “That's what we're thinking. I know it's big for a team that missed the playoffs back-to-back years, but that should be mostly every team's end goal. That is our goal. We don't want to make the playoffs and say, hey, we made it back. We want to make the playoffs and push the envelope.”

Riverview's situation creates a sense of urgency, a knowledge that this season will become, in Namey's words, “the last hurrah” for his seniors. The Raiders advanced to the WPIAL Class A quarterfinals in 2014, their freshman season, before missing out the past two years.

An up-and-down start to section play last season, coupled with a disappointing loss in the section finale, ultimately cost Riverview a playoff spot. The Raiders won their first two games in section play but followed that by dropping five of the next six.

Some positional switches helped spark a 4-0-1 run in section play, including a draw with eventual WPIAL runner-up Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, and put Riverview on the brink of a playoff spot. The streak was spoiled with a 2-0 loss to rival Springdale at Riverside Park in the final section game.

That loss dropped Riverview from potentially finishing second in the section to fifth place and out of the postseason entirely.

“That's just the way it was,” Namey said. “Every game was a playoff game, and we had a couple injuries, we had to switch a couple players around. Everyone held home field, and we had that one little slipup, and it was that last game.

“Everything had to play out perfect, and one little hiccup ends the season. As soon as the clock hits zero, there's nothing you can do.”

Namey switched to a two-defender, six-midfielder formation last year and plans to use it again this season.

All six midfielders are seniors: Sean Abraham, Ben Brumbaugh, Sam Connolly, Andrew Gardner, Mike Komaniak and Adam Walker. Senior Cal Fisher and sophomore Nick O'Toole will play defense in front of senior goalkeeper Jordan Zatawski, who started the first half of the season in 2016. Juniors Christoph Hudack and Ethan Snyder will play forward.

Namey also plans to lean on a skilled group of sophomores off the bench.

“(Everybody needs) to stick together and play for each other, get rid of that individual mentality, and use their versatility,” Namey said. “They're skilled throughout, and if we stick to that, a lot of teams will have to adapt to us rather than have us adapt to other teams.”

Section 3-A produced three WPIAL quarterfinalists last season, and Namey expects another battle for playoff spots this fall. He hopes his seniors' talent and motivation will combine to end the Raiders' two-year postseason drought.

“Just the overall skill on the field, up and down, I think our 11 can match up with any 11 in the section,” Namey said. “I have no problem with saying our team, the 11 skill-wise on the field, is easily one of the top five teams in the WPIAL. It's just getting them to play together, because sometimes when you do have all that talent, people want to be individuals. I think that's what happened halfway through the season. They realized even though individually, they're unbelievable, when they don't work together, an average team that works hard can upset them.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer.

Tags: Riverview