Bourne Boys' Soccer Ready To Roll

By: Dan Crowley
Published: 08/30/12

 The Bourne boys’ soccer team will take the field this fall with a roster that includes 14 seniors. However, Coach Andrew Arki will be leaning heavily on four of them to guide the squad back to the state tournament. Seniors Jack Canterbury, Matt Moriarty, Blade Leavenworth and Lucas Cabral will captain the Canalmen this season and Coach Arki expects big things from them.

“Jack and Lucas lead by example on the field while Blade and Matt are vocal and are good at rallying the team. They’re not afraid to speak their mind,” Arki said. “I’m looking for all four of them to, hopefully, lead us to our sixth consecutive tournament appearance.”

The Canalmen will also have senior experience in the midfield from Griffin Girard and Eric Ohnemus.
“They’re the glue of our center midfield,” Arki said.

Another senior who is expected to come up big for Bourne is keeper Michael Froman, a four-season veteran, who played the last two in goal.

“He is a total athlete and very talented,” Arki said of his keeper. “Michael is a calming influence in goal.”

Seven other seniors will be playing at the varsity level for the first time. Jeremy Sullivan, who played junior varsity last season, will play up front along with Leavenworth. Seniors Jimmy Boyle and Mike Wiggin will see time in the midfield while Cully Gomes, Matt Prevey, Val Cleary and Sean O’Hara will play on defense.

“We are in the process of trying to find our chemistry,” the coach explained. “Nearly half of our varsity squad is new. We’re going to experiment with a lot of new systems. I think we have a lot of potential.”

With the exception of Cabral at sweeper, the entire Bourne defense is new this fall.

Junior Dennis Rogers is back for another season at midfield. He’ll be joined by sophomores Dan Barachini and McGregor Nickerson.

“Those sophomores earned their spots,” Coach Arki noted. “They’re aggressive and they both played well in our first two scrimmages with a number of quality balls into the box.”

Junior Curt Lieber will join the varsity squad this fall, adding to the defense.

“I think this year is a little bit of a rebuilding year,” Arki explained. “We have so many new faces, especially on defense, but we have enough experienced players to field a competitive team. It’s going to take a lot of work, and I know the boys will put in the effort. Our preseason goals are to build our game fitness, learn how to play our positions, and develop that chemistry we’ll need on and off the field. I’m going to put a lot of pressure on our veterans to help the new guys.”
The boys’ soccer team opens the season on the road at Greater New Bedford Voc Tech on Wednesday.

“We have a tough stretch of games to open the season,” the coach said. “After New Bedford Voc, we have Apponequet at home on Friday. Those are the two teams we battled for the conference championship the past two years. It’s the toughest opener we’ve faced since I’ve coached at Bourne. There won’t be a lot of room for error.”
This fall 8th-grade players from Bourne Middle School will play for the Canalmen at the junior varsity level.

“I think those 8th graders are probably the most talented soccer class I’ve seen since 2006,” Arki added. “I’m excited to watch them mature. I think there is a bright future for Bourne High School soccer.”

Coach Arki will be assisted this fall by junior varsity coach and varsity assistant coach, Craig Davidson.

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