By Christian Galligan – Staff Reporter

After a successful regular season, the Law boys soccer team opened postseason play with a 4-1 win over New London in the first round of the Class L State Tournament on November 2.

Law next plays on Tuesday, November 5, against East Haven at Lawmen Stadium at 6 p.m.. 

“Simply being locked in every moment, from the players on the field to the subs coming in.” Head Coach Mr. Gruber said. “Energy and effort need to be 100 percent through all 80 minutes and overtime if needed. Each player at this point in the season knows their role and what is expected from them.”

Although the team had its struggles earlier this year, they feels it’s all behind them and they feel ready for a deep State Tournament run. As the season progressed, the team became more like a family and their play on the field improved.

“Early in the season, we struggled to play together as a team and understand our identity,” senior Ivan Galicinao said.  “But as we continued to practice and understand our system we started to play the way we knew we could play.”

The team has been working very hard to stay together and work through the downs of the season to stay together and make a strong push deep into the state tournament.  The team has different approaches to every game, but all hope to remain on the same page.

“We’ve been preparing from a game-by-game standpoint, each practice depending on the next opponent determines the way that we practice,” senior Captain Ryan Nastasia said.  “If we’re playing a weaker team we practice being on the ball more. If we are playing a stronger team we practice defending and staying connected as a team.”

The Lawmen will continue to use what they felt worked best throughout the whole regular season – defense.

“From the start, we were able to defend at a very high level, and play well out of the back,”  Senior Lucca Venditti said.

The team’s hopes are very high and they feel they have all that it takes to reach the ultimate goal at the end of the State Tournament.  

“In these playoffs, we have a great chance,”  sophomore Evan Esposito said. “We will have to continue to play our best brand of soccer and elevate all levels of the game, including our defense.”