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Clack clicking for W-H boys’ soccer

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Clack against Pembroke this season. / Photo by: Sue Moss

Through the Panthers’ first three games, senior midfielder Nolan Clack has two goals and two assists.

Senior midfielder Nolan Clack has been a man on a mission this season for the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer team.

It took the four-year varsity player just two games to match his goal total (two) and halve his assist total (four) from last fall. In the Panthers’ season opener, Clack racked up two assists in a 2-1 victory over defending Div. 4 South champion Cohasset, 2-1. His first came off a corner kick to junior captain Jason Broduer and other came toward the end of the first half when he fed sophomore Brad Pelissier, who found the back of the net.

Two days later, Clack was the one finding the back of the net – not once, but twice – in a 6-1 triumph over Rockland. His first tally came five minutes in to set the tone, putting W-H up 1-0. With 15 minutes left in the opening frame, Clack scored again to make it 4-0.

“What he did in the first half against Cohasset and the first again against Rockland, he made us a better team because of his play,” W-H boys’ soccer head coach Dave Leahy explained.

PUTTING IN THE WORK

Clack’s early success was preceded by a summer centered around soccer. After back-to-back tough seasons in 2015 (4-14) and 2016 (1-16), both of which Clack were a part of, he and the Panthers got a taste of success last fall in what was their first season under Leahy. Their win total rose by 10 and they made the playoffs for the first time in three years. The advances had Clack wanting more and aiming to be a bigger part of the action. So, he knew the work he had to put in to better his game.

“Every day, me and captain Steve Kelly, we just went to the field,” Clack said. “We just worked on everything we needed to over the offseason. Every day.”

Improving hisshot was high on his to-do list. “My dad would come to the field and [my right foot was] all we’d work on for like an hour,” Clack said.

In addition to just coming to the field, Clack was in game action for a few months with his club team, the FC Boston Bolts, playing in numerous tournaments. Leahy’s noticed the effort put in.

“Nolan has done an excellent job at coming back from his junior year to his senior year, and he worked as hard as he could in the offseason to make himself the best player he can be, and he’s continuing to work hard,” Leahy said.

Adding more fire to Clack’s desire for success was when he found out the Panthers were going to be down two key players to transfer just a few weeks before the season.

“It just put a chip on our shoulder,” Clack said. “We don’t want to show that were bad, we don’t want to show that we’re too good, we just wanna play the way we wanna play.”

Clack looks to keep rolling Friday, Sept. 21 when the Panthers (2-1) host Hanover at 4 p.m.

“I just want to get over .500 and help the team as much as possible to win,” Clack said.

Season Preview: Leahy, W-H boys’ soccer team positive and optimistic

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The Pathers’ during their Aug. 25 scrimmage against Bridgewater-Raynham. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer team is rallying around positivity.

As he enters his second season at the helm of the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer team, Dave Leahy is preaching the same message to his players as when he first got there.

“Last year it was to be positive and I think every single year, the goal is to be positive and make each player try to bring out the best in each other,” Leahy said.

His reasoning is straightforward.

“I think negativity gets the opposite (of success), so positivity helps people feel like they can do their best,” Leahy explained.

Leahy’s logic seemed to have played at least a part in the Panthers’ success last season, of course with player production accounting for a big chunk. W-H finished with 11 wins (10 more than the previous season), cracked the postseason for the first time since 2014 and even won a game (2-1 over Catholic Memorial) in them.

“Well, we were the first team to make playoffs in a while so it proves that we can get there,” current junior captain Stevie Kelly said.

Positivity doesn’t just translate into wins, but also acts as a way to pull the Panthers closer, especially at the outset of this fall. In addition to graduating a skilled crop of seniors — headlined by former captains Anthony Pasciuto (goalie and Patriot League All-Star), Kyle Nehiley (forward and Patriot League All-Star) and Cameron Rogers (defender) — W-H had a trio of unexpected departures that tested its program.

“We had a few really talented players [leave us],” Leahy explained. “We had an injury, and a private school and then going to another public school, and that happened in the last two weeks.

“But what happened was the team kind of just came together instead of separating and kids realized there was opportunity where maybe there wasn’t as much before.”

The Panthers may have had a few talented players exit for a variety of reasons, but they return a solid core.

Kelly provides a steady presence in many facets of the game at centre-back.

“Last year he was all hustle and just won balls for us,” Leahy said of his captain. “This year he’s our field general and he’s the intelligent guy leading our defense. The maturity, and the leadership and growth is just great to see.”

Senior Matt Hickey and juniors Kyle O’Connor and Cezar Zurita return in front of the net as well.

“I think our strength right now would probably be our defense and possessing,” Kelly said.

Along with Kelly, junior Jason Brodeur will also captain the Panthers. The junior midfielder was their leading goal scorer last fall with nine.

“He’s a talented kid,” Leahy explained. “Everything he has for weaknesses he made sure that he worked on in the offseason. He wants to be as good as he can so he doesn’t just work on his strengths, he works on his weaknesses.”

Senior Nolan Clack (two goals and four assists in ’17) and sophomore Brendan Nehiley (seven goals and five assists) also both provide some playmaking ability and experience in the middle.

The goalkeeper position is still up for grabs between senior Griffin Nickerson and junior Andrew Sullivan.

“Right now, we have two strong contenders,” Leahy said. “It could be that they split time, who knows?”

The Panthers open their season Saturday, Sept. 8 at 6 p.m. with a home game against Cohasset.

“I think that we can play good, successful soccer,” Leahy said. “I’m not sure what the overall record will be at the end of the year, but we’ll play some good brand of soccer and we’ll play good defense and we’ll play together.”

Season Review: Boys’ soccer rises to meet challenge

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The Panthers after a Nov. 4 win over Catholic Memorial in the opening round of the Div. 2 South Sectional tournament. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer team – under the watch of first-year head coach Dave Leahy – qualified for the postseason for the first time since 2014.

At the outset of the season, first-year Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer head coach Dave Leahy acknowledged there were challenges ahead.

“I am looking for our players to face the multiple challenges each game throws at us in a positive, unified effort. If we can stay together as a family throughout the first two weeks, we will be able to face any challenge going forwardtogether,” he said.

The Panthers entered the new year trying to put a wretched one-win 2016 campaign in the rearview mirror.

W-H opened 2017 with a 3-2 loss to Silver Lake, and eventually finished out its first week of play at 0-3. It was tough, but the Panthers remained confident they had what it took to be successful.

In their second week of action, the Panthers had turned the corner. It started with a 3-2 win on the road against Plymouth South and carried over to a 3-0 victory over Plymouth North three days later.

“We started to believe and we kept pushing forward each day after that,” Leahy said. “We had some setbacks but it was never for too long. We had a few bad halves, but never a bad game. We kept learning and improving.”

W-H, driven by a sheer desire to succeed, would then go on to claim victories in eight out its next 13 games to cap off the regular season at 10-7-1. In the midst of the Panthers’ surge, a 2-1 triumph over Quincy qualified them for the Div. 2 South Sectional tournament for the first time since 2014. Leahy said it was just a case of getting his team to buy into the fact it could be successful.

“For whatever reasons the team had been unlucky for a few seasons, and as a result we had learned that we were typically on the losing end at the end of the game,” he said. “So, getting this belief changed for us was the biggest.” In the preliminary round of the tournament, No. 13 W-H downed No. 21 Catholic Memorial, 2-1, in game that was decided with penalty kicks.

However, in the next round, the Panthers’ run came to an end at the hands of Oliver Ames, 4-0.

“The biggest advantage was playoff experience,” Leahy said. “They wanted to jump out early and try and end the game quickly. And they succeeded in doing so.”

While postseason maturity may have worked against W-H this November, the script may be flipped next time around. The Panthers will have an abundance of young talent back in the fold next season, which includes four of their top-five goal scorers in sophomores Jason Brodeur and Adam Milewski, and freshmen Joel Arsenault and Brendan Nehiley.”

The majority of teams that win championships were in the playoffs in prior years,” Leahy said. “So, playoff experience is integral to a successful program.”

As for departures, W-H will lose 11 seniors – headlined by captains Kyle Nehiley, Anthony Pasciuto and Cameron Rogers. Their shoes won’t be easy to fill.

“They came into preseason motivated,” Leahy said. “They worked hard in the offseason and were ready to play hard this summer. Each day they all worked hard to improve and their efforts were noticed by our underclassmen. They took their role seriously and led with courage. They were outstanding for us.”

As the Panthers embark on the offseason, there is a lot more clarity now then there was just a few short months ago.

“I am extremely proud,” Leahy said. “This team had to learn a lot and do it quickly together. They came together and worked hard for each other and kept pushing forward. It was a fun ride.”

A new year on the pitch

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The Panthers during a September game against Plymouth North, a 3-0 win. / Photo by: Sue Moss

The Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer team has bounced back from a one-win 2016 campaign and has qualiefied for the tournament this fall.

What a difference a year can make. For the Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer team, it saw what that difference can be first-hand.

After a 1-16-1 campaign last season, the Panthers now find themselves with a 10-7-1 mark. With that comes a berth in the Division 2 South Sectional tournament for the first time in three years.

The win that qualified them for the tournament was a 2-1 triumph over Quincy on Thursday, Oct. 26. First-year W-H head coach Dave Leahy said his team was a tad jittery going in.

“We were a little bit nervous about making a mistake, but we pulled it together [and] got it done,” Leahy said. “We’re on a mission.”

However, the Panthers have had their fair share of struggles over the past few months, which included starting the season with three straight losses. W-H, despite the record, didn’t hang its head.

“I believe every player that is on this team has sacrificed for each other and for themselves,” Leahy said. “And as far as sticking together, they’ve come together to become a really solid team that can face a lot of adversity.”

When you look at the Panthers on the field, it’s not just the juniors and seniors leading the way, but it’s the underclassman chipping in as well.

“The freshmen on this team, all four of them, have just really given in awesome minutes,” Leahy said. “And they’re scoring goals, they’re defending, getting assists, they’re very unselfish, they’re a great building block for this program and this team currently.”

A prime example of that was in the Panthers’ final regular season match, a 6-1 win over Cardinal Spellman, on Saturday, Oct. 28. Senior Brendan Nehiley may have paced the W-H offensive attack with two goals, but freshman Joel Aresenault and sophomore Jason Broduer each chipped in a tally as well.

In net, Leahy opted to give senior captain and starting goaltender Anthony Pasciuto the afternoon off, and sophomore Andrew Sullivan and junior Griffin Nickerson combined to get the job done.

“Tremendous growth from what I saw in the summer leagues to the preseason to the first game to the last game” Leahy said. “Just every single day there is growth, even in losses, even in wins, it was all growth.”

Leahy, who said he is extremely proud of how far his group has come from June to now, added he doesn’t want the Panthers’ next bout to be their last.

“We’re going to work as hard as possible, have fun in that first game, but we’re going to be working like we can have success every single game we play,” he said.

No. 13 W-H will open the tournament on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m. when it will host No. 20 Catholic Memorial (5-10-1) in the preliminary round.

Pasciuto makes mark in the net

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Anthony Pasciuto makes a save against Silver Lake. / Photo by: Sue Moss

First-year starting goalie Anthony Pasciuto has been a key for the Panthers this season.

Starting between the pipes on a regular basis at the varsity level has been something Whitman-Hanson Regional High boys’ soccer senior Anthony Pasciuto has been waiting for since he was a freshman.

Pasciuto, who has been playing on the pitch since he was in kindergarten, served as the starting goalkeeper at the lower levels during his first two high school campaigns. Last season he backed up Patriot League Keenan Division All-Star Conor Keane on varsity, while receiving reps on defense as well. This fall there was never a doubt, even to first-year W-H head coach Dave Leahy, that Pasciuto was ready to take over.

“He knew he was the starter, I knew he was the starter, he’s just, he’s a great goalie,” Leahy said.

Pasciuto, despite receiving minimal playing time in goal last season, said the move from second to first string wasn’t too much of a challenge.

“It’s not really much different because I’ve been playing goalie my whole entire life, so I’ve been playing goalie and defense so it’s really no change for me,” Pasciuto said. “I used to play goalie in club, so it’s been an easy transition for me.”

Pasciuto, who stands at 6-foot-4, has relished in the opportunity.

In 15 regular season games, he posted a 1.5 goals against average and recorded six shutouts for the Panthers (10-7-1). W-H is headed to the Division 2 South Sectional tournament for the first time since 2014.

“This year in goal I’ve been feeling really good,” Pasciuto said. “Probably my best year in goal in my whole entire life, so I’m feeling really good right now.”

Leahy said his senior goalkeeper has been everything he could have imagined this season.

“We had a tough first week going 0-3 and then from that point on, after a very important Hingham game (2-1 Panthers loss) for him, he has been outstanding in the league,” Leahy said.

In preperation of the new season, Pasciuto said he spent count less hours with the rest of his squad trying to get better at anything they could.

“In the summer, I was on the field four times a week just to work on goalie stuff,” Pasciuto said. “My whole entire team went every single week. We just worked really hard and that’s why we’re here right now, 10-7-1, making the tournament.”

Pasciuto said if there is one aspect of his game that separates him from his opposition on the field it’s his work ethic.

“I’ve been working really hard, I’ve been waiting for this since my freshman year,” he said. “I wanted to be the starting goalie since my freshman year. So, I’ve been waiting for this so I got to make the most of it.”

Not only is Pasciuto crucial to the Panthers’ on field performance, but he’s a leader off the field as well, serving as a captain. Those two combined make a player like him tough for a coach not to appreciate.

“He’s got the heart of a lion and he’s just a gentleman,” Leahy said. “You add all those things up, and he’s an athletic guy, he’s an outstanding goalie and outstanding captain.”

As W-H heads into the tournament, Pasciuto said it is essential for it to keep doing the things that got it there in the first place.

“We have to stay together, stick together,” he said. “One focus, we’re a family, we’re gonna go far. We just [have to] stay focused and hungry.”