Team First

How do you act when you’re exceeding expectations and everybody’s patting you on the back?
How do you act when you’re undefeated and almost unscored upon? How do you act when everything you touch turns to gold (or at least seems to)? Easy. You act like it’s all happened before (even if it hasn’t, at least in your memory). Such is the approach of the guys on Collegiate’s varsity soccer squad, who with a month left in the season find themselves with a 10-0-2 record (3-0 in the Prep League) and No. 3 ranking in the Virginia Association of Independent Schools poll.
 
“This is my fourth year on the team, and we’ve never been in this position,” said Jack Piland, a senior tri-captain. “It’s fun, but you can’t let it go to your head or even think about it too much.”
 
Piland – quick, fast, and fearless – has scored 13 of the Cougars 24 goals. He starts at right midfield so he can isolate on a single defender, but sometimes changes positions as the match progresses.
 
“Sometimes, I play up at striker,” he said. “I’m usually more dangerous there because I have more of the field to work with and a straight shot at the goal.”
 
As Piland has established himself as the go-to guy on offense, opponents have focused on him, either assigning one player to mark him wherever he goes or double teaming him.
 
“It’s definitely something that takes getting used to,” he said. “They’re trying to get into my head and stay with me so I don’t have any room to do anything. It can be hard. A lot of times, we’re going back and forth, a little elbow here and there. It can be frustrating, but I just try to stay focused and not worry about it.”
 
The Cougars have recorded eight consecutive shutouts. In 12 matches, they have allowed just two goals, a testament to a strong, rise-to-the-occasion defense which features two freshmen – Will Neuner and Colin Ryan – manning the center back spots.
 
“Coming into the season, we were anxious about having two completely new center backs, but they’ve really stepped up,” said Shaan Kapadia, a tri-captain who plays center midfield. “And Akum (Dhillon) has stepped into the starting role (as goal keeper). He loves soccer. It’s his sport. He gives it his all.”
 
Early in the pre-season, it was clear that team chemistry would be a vital factor if the Cougars were to achieve success. As the season progressed, an all-for-one, one-for-all mindset quickly emerged. 
 
“After our first two performances, we saw how well the team worked as a unit,” Kapadia added. “We knew we could achieve further. We knew we were shaping up to be much better than we might have thought. It’s getting to know each player in practice. The coaches remind us that this is a players’ game, not a coaches’ game. There’s no stoppage of play. We have to go out there and work with each other.”
 
On September 21, the Cougars defeated perennially strong Norfolk Academy 1-0 on the road to reclaim the Tucker-Pitt Cup, a trophy named for legendary headmasters John H. Tucker (NA) and Malcolm U. Pitt Jr. (Collegiate). A week later, they scored a 1-0 victory over Cape Henry Collegiate, the defending state champ, at the River City Sportsplex.
 
Those victories were real confidence-builders. They were hey-we-can-be-really-good-if-we-keep-working-hard moments. There’s no hint of complacency, no resting on laurels, just humility, just the desire to double-down the effort.
 
“Beating Norfolk was huge,” said Stewart Berling, the third tri-captain who anchors the left side of the defense. “Beating Cape Henry proved that we’re not afraid of anybody. We go hard in practice and make it competitive, so in games we fight for each other.”
 
That attitude comes in handy in close games when the bulk of the action seems to be in the Cougars’ defensive end of the pitch.
 
“It (intensely defending the goal) gets tiring, especially on some of the hotter days,” Berling said. “There’s no other choice, really. We work hard together. You have to play a selfless game, put it all out there, and think about the team.”
 
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