Mahar Regional School boys soccer coach Dan Guertin wanted to bring in a pair of nets that were set off to the side of the field during one of the first practices of the season last week. He wanted his Senators to run a countering drill.
The problem? When the players tried to grab one of the two nets, they realized it was stuck in ice and unable to be moved.
Like all teams in Western Mass. this Fall II season, Guertin quickly realized he’d have to adapt everything he had planned to the elements. It’s been a unique approach to figuring out the best possible way to get his team prepared for the upcoming season.
“It’s a different year,” Guertin said. “Some of the things we’d normally do in practice we’ve had to adjust. Maybe we’ll get those nets out in a month when it warms up. We had a freak snowstorm one October a few years ago where we had to shovel off the field to practice. It’s not the first time and certainly won’t be the last, but it’s not ideal.”
Guertin is no stranger to March soccer practices. Growing up, his coach Artie Burke would have him and the players out on the field for practice on March 1 of every year, plowing off the field while players battled through the cold weather.
Now the Senators are doing the same thing. They do, however, have one major advantage over many schools throughout the Commonwealth — a turf field.
While other teams have been practicing in gymnasiums, parking lots or muddy fields, Mahar’s teams have had the luxury of the turf field at the Woodward Complex to prepare for the upcoming season.
“We know we’re in a better position than the other teams where we do have the turf,” Guertin said. “We tried to take a run in the grassy areas and all their feet just sunk in so we’re very lucky to have the turf.”
The custodians at Mahar plowed the field before practices began last week, clearing a way for the football and soccer programs to get going.
The turf provides the soccer teams the ability to hold practices as they would during the fall season. That ability to handle typical skill and drill work on the turf is a big advantage over the competition.
“We’ve been lucky enough that the custodians plowed the field last week,” Mahar girls soccer coach Chad Softic said. “We have enough room for two teams to split the field and play short field games and get in the drills we want to do. We’re lucky to have the turf. Everything has been normal, it hasn’t been bad at all and it feels like a normal season.”
For Softic — who also coaches the Mahar boys basketball team — and all athletes who played a winter sport, there wasn’t much time between the transition to the Fall II season.
Both the Senator girls and boys basketball teams closed out their season on Feb. 26, and the first day of Fall II began just three days later on March 1. To ease the burden and have a little rest between seasons, the Mahar girls practiced just once last week before returning to a full week of practice this week.
For the athletes who made the quick transition, one positive is that the early season conditioning isn’t as difficult as it had been after a summer off.
“Being in game shape already is a huge advantage,” Softic said. “The kids who are playing are so far ahead conditioning wise than the kids who haven’t. There’s plenty of time for the kids who didn’t play a winter sport to catch up, we’re not in a position where we need to play tomorrow. We have enough depth where if girls need some time, they’ll be able to get it.”
Last fall season, both Mahar soccer programs qualified for the postseason, with the boys reaching the WMass Div. 3 quarterfinals and the girls making it all the way to Div. 3 championship game after posting a 15-1-2 record.
The girls team returns all but one starter from last year’s squad, making it a formidable threat in the Franklin County League this upcoming season.
“We’re returning quite a bit,” Softic said. “We have a lot coming back and our numbers are good.”
While the girls team is running it back, the boys side was decimated by graduation, losing more than 10 players.
Trying to replace the loss of many key players is a near impossible task, and doing so during a COVID-dominated year makes that challenge much more difficult.
“A lot of our guys had lesser roles last year just because they were playing behind outstanding players,” Guertin said. “The challenge is finding some players to step up and be the lead person this year.”
Mahar’s soccer teams open their respective seasons on March 30. The boys will host Smith Academy on the turf with the girls team traveling to Hatfield to play the Falcons on the road.