By Melissa Santos – Staff Reporter

The Law boys soccer team is off to a fast start this season.

The team has won four straight games and have a record of 4-1 as of October 17. Their wins have come against Amity, West Haven, Shelton, and Platt Tech. The team’s top goal scorers so far have been junior Lex Edwards and senior Felipe Mourao.

This year’s season has been a lot different than other years due to COVID-19 protocols. The team has 11 regular season games scheduled as opposed to the standard 20.

Head coach Mike Gruber said he is excited about the team’s start and how they have handled themselves off the field.

“The boys soccer team has done a great job following protocols and staying safe,” Gruber said.

The team started out in cohorts of up to 10 players for three weeks and could only practice for 60 minutes. Then they were able to have full team practices for up to an hour and a half and do more full- field and game-like situations. 

”We usually would have five to six scrimmages in past seasons, but this year could only have one which makes it tough to jump right into the season when trying to work on formations and getting younger players time against varsity quality opponents,” Gruber said.

Other changes now are that players must wear masks when coming onto the field and then when sitting on the bench or when they come out of the game. Also, players must socially distance on the benches.

“I think the greatest struggle this year is not getting those valuable scrimmages against high level opponents in the beginning of the season like we have had in years past,” Gruber said. “It always helps us as a team to work on so many different tactics before the season starts which has helped the past Law teams immensely.”

Members of the team are very excited to play as many games as they can this season.

“I am most excited for our last Foran versus Law game as the other seniors and I have spent years preparing for this,” senior captain Jonathan Contaxis said. “It would mean a lot to be able to come home with a victory against our rivals.”

Even with a shortened season, team members and coaches are very excited to play. 

“I’m very proud of our students’ athletes maintaining safety protocols and grades during these times,” Gruber said. “We are looking forward to playing a competitive schedule and trying to get better each and every game or training session that we play this season.”