Fox Lane boys ready to ‘Bond’ with new soccer coach

Fox Lane soccer coach Tom Bond talks to his team after practice. JIM MACLEAN PHOTO

By JIM MACLEAN 

It has been a good run for the Fox Lane boys varsity soccer program the last couple of years. Two years ago the Foxes made it to the sectional championship game, and last year they made it to the semifinals, two great years with a lot of victories.

Senior Fredy Contreras was a starter on both of those teams and this will be his fourth year on varsity. He also remembers freshman year, when the Foxes did not have a winning record. The program has come a long way, but this year they face a new challenge with a new coach as Contreras and the Fox Lane seniors hope for a strong finish to their high school careers.

“I’ve been on varsity since I was a freshman, seeing everything that happened, not winning many games freshman year to making it to the sectional finals, winning a lot of games, I’ve seen how far this team has come,” Contreras said. “And I see how far this team has come this off season, we’ve been working very hard, my senior year and we’re looking to have a good year. We’re adapting to new coaches, two great coaches, and we’re really coming together this past week with tryouts. We’re all committed and ready to win.”

The Foxes have a lot of returning faces on the roster to keep up the winning tradition, but a couple of new faces will be leading the way as Tom Bond takes over as the new head coach with assistant coach Paul Ptaschne.

Bond was a modified soccer coach and he teaches in the district and played collegiate baseball at SUNY Oneonta. This is his first season as a varsity head coach, but he knows the players well and what they have accomplished and wants to continue to build the program.

“I teach here and I’ve known a lot of these kids for years — we’re building our relationships — I just love to coach and support the kids in a positive way,” Bond said. “I came on in the end of July, and if we do the right things it will all take off. We have a lot of talented players, a lot of returning starters and we’re trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. We just have to get them to gel together, that’s the biggest thing to play as a team.”

Bond got a late start taking over the program in mid summer, but he has seen what the team has done under former coach Mike Tomassi and he knows he inherits a talented team and the foundation for a strong program.

“Two years ago they were in the sectional championships, last year they beat Harrison who went on to win the section, that shows the capability of the program, the talent is here,” Bond added. “Mike built the program to be super strong. He laid the ground work and did such a good job setting the framework, so stepping in has been easy.”

In addition to Contreras, other key varsity returners include Christian Mejia-Lopez, Diego Martinez-Perez, Lucas Ormazabal and Ryan Nappi. The talent is there with several veterans and a lot of players anxious to step up into bigger roles on varsity.

Another sign of how strong the program has become was the turn out in August for tryouts as a total of 87 athletes came out to compete for a spot on the varsity and junior varsity rosters. Bond was able to keep 23 of them on the varsity roster.

“We’ve got great numbers, this year was tough with so many kids trying out, some extremely tough decisions, a lot of young talent and the future looks really good,” Bond said of the tryouts. “Soccer in this community has grown a lot. Being in the district I’ve seen it grow and it feels great to be a part of it.”

Fox Lane will open the season on the road at Carmel on Thursday, Sept. 10.