by David Flint
The 2012 Taconic Valley Boys U-19 team has accomplished something that had never been accomplished before. They have won the Capital District Youth Soccer League U-19 Boys Division with six wins and only one loss. The team is composed of players from the Berlin, New Lebanon and Brunswick school districts, and many of the athletes had waited a long time for this successful season.
[private]Coach Aaron Willis took over the program three years ago and many of these players played on his first squad, which finished in last place in 2010 with a record of 0-8. Last year things turned around as the athletes started to conform to Coach Willis’ style and ended the year 4-3-1. But everything came together this spring as the boys scored 16 goals and only allowed 7 in 7 games. The boys’ victories came against East Greenbush, Highland, New York Elite, Clifton Park and the boys won the division with a 3-2 win against Guilderland United Premier, a team that was #6 in the state and #74 in the nation. This was Guilderland’s first loss of the season. They had beaten every other team by three or more goals. It was a huge win for the local boys and the TVSC program.
Team members are Connor Brown, Ben Burgess, Tucker Connally, Preston Gardner, Michael Gavrity, Mihael Gerkman, Justin Jewett, Adam Lowe, Kyle McHugh, Jacob Mills, Michael Reger, Sakan Sadowsky, Juan Santana and Shawn Willis.
This wraps up a successful run for Coach Willis as his sixth grade boys at BCS went undefeated this past fall.
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