The John Carroll boys soccer team started off the season strongly with a national ranking. The team fought hard in a tied game with Calvert Hall, who was ranked number three nationally at the time of the game.

This tie gave John Carroll spot 25 in the nation’s best high school boys teams.

Being in a rank like this, the team got excited for what was to come for their season. Regarding how being nationally-ranked affected team mentality, senior Cole Bowser said, “I feel like normally you would think we would overthink it and get in our own heads, but I mean up to now, it’s been great.”

The team is hoping to make it farther than they did last year, with a loss in the semi-finals. With the number of returning players they have, Cole said, “All the sophomores and all the juniors have all been playing for a year, and they are all just better. We look so much better as a team now.”

Like Cole, Varsity Head Coach James Fendryk agreed that because all of the boys are more experienced, “now we have all the pieces in play and have done the work to build out what is a very talented team.”

A lot of the guys on the team already play for club teams who are nationally-ranked, so for some of them this ranking is not new.

Although they are not in the national rankings anymore, the team is still one of the top contenders in the IAAM A conference. Because it is so early in the season, the team can easily get back onto the nation’s top 50 with a couple of wins, especially from rival teams such as McDonough, Gilman, and a second game with Calvert Hall.

Mr. Fendryk, on the pressure of being a national team, said, “Every game becomes a cup final; every team wants to beat you, and every team wants to put in their best effort against a nationally ranked team.”