By Nick Ferrara – Staff Reporter

Senior goalkeeper Jaret Petrie is looking for a successful season for the Jonathan Law boy’s soccer team.

Petrie has been a member of varsity since freshman year and is expected to start the majority of games this season

“Personally my goals are to remain the starting goalie for the entire season and continue to grow as a player,”  Petrie said. “As a team, our goal is to make the state tournament, and make it out of the first round.”

The Law boys soccer team has a big task in front of them, since before last year, they had not made states for 13 years. Petrie will be one of the keys to the team returning to states.

“Jaret is passionate about soccer and knowing that he is guarding our goal gives us the confidence needed to make plays without hesitation,” senior outside midfielder Colby Brennan said. “He isn’t afraid to challenge for the ball and quickly distribute it, which helps us out tremendously”.  

Preseason training helped Petrie, strengthening and preparing him for the upcoming season. Petrie works on and off the field, in and out of the gym.

“Jaret spent a lot of time in the offseason working out and getting into the best shape of his soccer career at Law,” Law’s head boys soccer coach Mike Gruber said. “Jaret came to our voluntary workout sessions in the offseason where we worked on strength, agility, and speed”.

The team’s toughest competition this year will be Hand and Guilford. The team’s biggest rival this year is Foran.

To prepare for these big games, the guys are training hard and consistently putting in 100% effort into each and every practice.

“I think Jaret will be fairly successful this season,” senior captain James Mercaldo said. “The defense on the team is working together much better this year, so I don’t think there will be too much thrown at him that he can’t stop.”

Among Law’s key players this season are junior midfielder Dennis Sweeney and sophomore forward Kevin Linn.

Linn has an extraordinary work rate and stamina, meaning he will most likely rise up and be one of the main scorers for the team.

Sweeney plays the center of the field very well, often times isolating the opposing team’s best offensive player and starting a counter attack as soon as Law get’s possession.

“As a captain, I hope the team continues to grow stronger and players grow stronger individually and I hope we can continue to work hard this season in hopes of making the state tournament,” senior captain Ian Hugo said.