30 SportsUnion | AUGUST 2017
high school
Soccer
A new season normally brings new expectations, but,
for the Hamburg High School soccer team, there is still
unfinished business.
By Matt Ondesko Managing Editor
As good as the Bulldogs
have been during the reg-
ular season, postseason
success has been hard to
come by. Hamburg is still
searching for that section-
al title. With a very young
team last season, the Bull-
dogs you could say ex-
ceeded expectations.
But, that was last year.
This year, the Bulldogs
are expected to be one of
the best teams in Western
New York.
“Every year we set the
bar higher to continue
breaking down barriers
- results are always the
barometer on where the
program is going - but
sometimes it doesn’t de-
scribe everything,” stat-
ed Hamburg coach Tony
Schiappa. “For example,
last year was by far our
most successful year our
program has had and we
didn’t break any records
like we did in 2014 (we
broke school record for
wins 16, shutouts 14, goal
record and assist record).
But what we did do is 100
percent maximize the
ability of the group we
had - every kid poured ev-
erything they had into our
team and for me that’s all
Setting the
Bar high
we can ask. Every off sea-
son we add a little more
so we expect the bar to be
higher than ever this year
despite only having four
seniors coming in.”
Youth will be served
this year, but this is a vet-
eran team. A lot of the
young players got a taste
of the varsity experience,
and will be looking to
improve. But, like most
clubs, the improvement
doesn’t start when the
practice does in August.
The improvement starts
during the offseason. To
be better, the players need
to push themselves and
that’s exactly what they’ve
been doing. Many of the
boys play club when the
high school season ends.
Club soccer helps them
get the extra reps needed
to compete at the highest
level. A lot of the players
take their talents to Glob-
al Premiere Soccer. Be-
ing able to build a great
relationship with GPS