Announcement
Elmira Boys Standing Tall After Growing Pains
Andrew Legare, alegare@stargazette.com @SGAndrewLegare
From a cursory glance, it might seem the Elmira High School boys soccer team has come out of nowhere to rank among New York state's top Class AA teams this season.
Last year the Express produced just three victories in 14 visits to the pitch, which came on the heels of a four-win 2015 campaign. The players and coach Derek Hamilton, though, were confident this season could be something special.
Part of that confidence grew from the manner in which they lost those games. Elmira played a staggering 18 overtime contests in the three seasons leading up to this one. One-goal losses peppered with ties were common for the Express. Frustration obviously came with those losses, but so, too, did belief.
That belief that things would turn around, combined with a commitment to outwork every opponent, has helped Elmira to an 8-1-1 record this year, with Wednesday's 2-0 road win over Horseheads giving the team an eight-game unbeaten streak as it battles perennial power Ithaca for the Southern Tier Athletic Conference West Division title. Ithaca is 8-1 in league play with four games left, while the Express has a 7-1-1 STAC mark.
The Express has jumped to the No. 8 Class AA ranking in the state from the New York State Sportswriters Association and is having the best season in its history, which dates back to the 2011 sports merger of Elmira Free Academy and Southside.
"The last two years we were saying to these guys, 'We’re so close, we’re so close,'" Hamilton said after Wednesday's triumph. "'We’re losing these one-goal games, we have all these overtime matches.' When we get to the maturation point we’re at now, with nine seniors, I knew we had a chance to be pretty good."
Hamilton admits some breaks have to go your way if you're to compile an 8-1-1 record in a talent-filled league such as the STAC. But skill and will have played much larger roles.
Senior co-captain Luke Baldwin said with the team's work ethic and experience he is not surprised to see Elmira's success. Nate Forrest, another senior captain, said the number of overtime losses and tough defeats in recent years provided a reason to think the talent was there to contend for league and sectional titles.
"We really play as a unit when we can," Baldwin said. "We talk and we string passes together. We defend as a team, we win as a team, we do everything as a team. That’s what we practice. ... We have a great coach, a great program. We just keep rolling. Keep doing us."
Making the transition from a team that works hard to a team that works the hardest has meshed with senior talent to deliver a brilliant first 10 games.
"Every single 50/50 ball is ours and we're putting 100 percent effort out there, more than other teams," Forrest said. "We're winning through pure effort."
He credits the makeup of the players on the team with that determination.
When the Express was losing in the toughest ways possible, that group was also paying attention to the little details that cost them dearly at the worst time.
"We win some, we lose some, but we always correct what we've done from the losses and we just come back even stronger the next year," Baldwin said.
This season Elmira has a 4-1 record in one-goal games.
"In the last couple of years we've been giving up those goals or we've been on the other end of 2-1 losses instead of 2-0 victories," Hamilton said.
If there was one moment this year that added a jolt of confidence, it came Sept. 11 when the Express downed Ithaca, 2-0, on the road. The Little Red, two years removed from a trip to the state final four, entered that contest ranked eighth in the state in Class AA.
"They've got a lot of great guys on their team," Baldwin said. "They know how to play; they've always known how to play."
Now opponents are saying similar things about the Express.
"They hustle, they play well together, but the big thing is they're finishing their opportunities," veteran Horseheads coach Mark Mucci said after Wednesday's game.
As Hamilton pointed out, Elmira's players understand their roles and are living up to what is expected of them in those roles. Defense has been a focal point, with Elmira shutting out five of its last seven opponents. On the offensive side, the Express has received scoring contributions from numerous players and from all kinds of angles. Hamilton also singled out the play at center back of Alex Hill and Jakub Ziembicki, describing the pair as "rock solid."
Last week, Elmira's six-game winning streak ended with a 0-0 tie at home against Corning, whose 4-3 win Aug. 30 is the Express' lone loss. The Express lost offensive threat and co-captain Gavin Wise during that tie with what turned out to be mononucleosis. Hamilton said he will miss four to eight weeks, meaning it's possible Wise won't be back this season.
"That's a big blow for us just because Gavin's a team leader, team captain, one of our key players," Hamilton said. "But you could see from (Wednesday) we have people who are willing to step in and maybe play out of their comfort zone a little bit. At the same time, that expectation has been developed in terms of we're here to win."
Wise was on the bench Wednesday to cheer for his teammates and see others step up in his place against Horseheads.
"It’s really tough," Baldwin said of losing Wise. "He’s one of the most important guys on our team. Definitely hurts us on our offense, but we play as a unit and we make up for it. String passes around and we just keep playing how we keep playing."
Or perhaps even better. As much as he has enjoyed leading this group, especially having coached some of the players in the Soaring Capital Soccer Club since they were little kids, Hamilton said the potential is there for even better things.
"We’re playing pretty well right now," he said. "I’d like to continue to improve and make sure we’re playing our best soccer leading into those sectional games, where we can put a complete 80 minutes together. We’ve played well this season, I don’t think we’ve put a complete 80 minutes together yet. When that happens I think it’s going to be pretty exciting for us."
For now the 10-game start is plenty exciting. How Elmira finishes, though, will tell the final story of this year's team. The Express has five regular-season games to go, with four of them counting in Elmira's bid to claim the STAC West title.
"We’re looking for STAC West," Forrest said. "We’re trying to just win out. We win out and we beat Ithaca, we beat Vestal and we’re at our goal. Then we go to sectionals and we’ll take it from there."
Andrew Legare is a sportswriter. Follow him @SGAndrewLegare on Twitter.
