Kicking Off to Win: The Promising Season for the Peglegs

Duncan Park is a Sports editor for The Spectator.

After a strong yet heartbreaking end to last season in the semi-finals, the Peglegs, Stuyvesant’s boys’ soccer team, have their sights set this season on accomplishing their perennial goal of winning the city championship for the first time in history.

The Peglegs’ heavy preparations for this season began even before the start of the school year. The team traveled to Camp Scatico in upstate New York, holding a pre-season camp for the first time. There, the team held two practices every day, with other sporting activities like volleyball scattered in as well, even in difficult conditions. The team’s preparations have been intense, but have proven to pay off. They learned to adapt and play in different conditions, which has translated into the games this season. “We did a lot of team bonding, which was good for the boys,” Coach Vincent Miller said. This strong team chemistry on and off the field has played a crucial role in their development.

Having lost several strong seniors from last season, the Peglegs have all had to enhance their play. To add on to that, “[defender] Michael Avrahami broke his wrist so he’s gonna be out for a couple games, so that’s a big problem for us,” Miller said. Luckily for the Peglegs, Michael Avrahami only missed two games and was fit enough to return for a crucial home match against MLK.

Losing such a strong player on defense forced the other players to step-up. Many players have been challenged to take greater responsibility this year, such as his twin brother Gabriel Avrahami, who rounds out a strong defensive core. Despite the injury, the team won both games with his absence. “I think we’ve dealt with it well, and we have a lot of depth in our lineup,” goalkeeper and co-captain Siddartha Mutha said. 

“We all got better from last year, players are ready to step up,” senior and co-captain Duncan Park said. Not all of the Peglegs are from Stuyvesant, as there has been the addition of iSchool players as part of the new PSAL All-Access Program. Beginning last year, the Peglegs have recruited several iSchool players to help the team, including sophomore Jonathan Jiminez and senior striker Langston Byrd. “They’ve really helped us strengthen our team and have gelled in great. Some of us know Langston from club soccer, and both of them have definitely been building a relationship with everyone on the team over these two years,” Park said.

“I think for the most part, we are bringing back our core starters because they were mostly sophomores and juniors last year and now they are juniors and seniors, so I think that's the biggest plus for us,” said Miller.

In their September 16 game against George Washington, the Peglegs had an impressive 8-0 victory. The scoresheet featured Park with four goals, junior Nikolas Rodriguez with two goals, and juniors Leonardo Guidi and Stefan Broge with 1 goal apiece.

With high spirits, the Peglegs charged into their game against Christopher Columbus Campus on September 20. The Peglegs had possession of the ball for the majority of the game. However, the Peglegs had countless shots on goal by halftime, yet no goals scored. “We almost scored many times and it was getting super frustrating,” Mutha said. After many scrambles in the box, junior forward Ethan Kwok finally managed to find the back of the net. “It felt great when Ethan scored. It was a big release of pressure and there was a lot of relief when he scored,” said Mutha. The Peglegs managed to secure a 1-0 win, maintaining their so-far unbeaten season.

Most recently, the Peglegs locked horns with a hyper-talented MLK squad at Pier 40 on September 25. MLK, often lauded for the national success of its soccer program, looked like the worse team in the first half. The Peglegs consistently won aerials and maintained a strong passing game, eventually creating an opportunity for Byrd to slot away an opening goal to take a 1-0 lead into the half. However, shortly after halftime, MLK won and converted a penalty to level the score. The rest of the second half was scrappy and chaotic, with both teams creating a plethora of scoring opportunities. The best scoring chance was for MLK off a corner. With Murtha beat, MLK was set to take the lead were it not for a spectacular goal-line clearance from Gabriel Avrahami that kept the score level and earned a draw for Stuyvesant.

When asked what makes the team so special, Miller noted that “there’s no one player on the team that’s a superstar and has a superstar mentality, which is so important. They all have the same team goal.” With an impressive 3-0-1 start, and the rest of the season coming up, the Peglegs are in store for a promising season. With unwavering leadership from the captains and a strong foundation of juniors and seniors, the Peglegs have a lot to look forward to this upcoming season.