With a lot of Heart and Hustle from our team, New Hartford takes the win against Proctor 2-0 on Saturday, October 5th!
The score was 0-0 and everyone in the crowd was on the edge of their seats, with Proctor having shots on goal. Our cheering section was definitely nervous but Tommy Wameling, the Goalie for the team, was unbeatable as he got many saves to hold the score for the game! Then to take the lead, Soren Stevenson receives the ball and dribbles down the field to deliver a pass to Noah Partenza who boots it into the net to make the score 1-0! Then after a lot of fighting for the ball, with the help of our own New Hartford defense line holding their own, Dylan Merrill hustles down the field with the ball to deliver to Ashton Giambrone who was open to take a shot, and he scores to secure the win for our New Hartford Spartans!
After watching the exciting game, I caught up with players Ashton Nole(Junior Defensemen) and Senior Captain David Berg as well as Coach Hadity (Head Coach of the team) to talk about the team’s success in the 2024 season.
David Berg shared his thoughts about the season after the game against Proctor. He said the team was performing:“a lot better than most would expect. Last year we lost in the section finals, but we have a great team, with lots of starters that are juniors which is really good for next year’s team. We just advanced to 7-2-2(which looks really good) and we keep improving every day which I look forward to.”
David was right: the team continued to work hard and finished the season with a record of : 12-3-2.
“ I think the team has come a long way and I think we are doing a pretty good job for how many seniors we lost last year. I think the younger kids are stepping up this year,” says fellow defender Ashton Nole in agreement with David Berg.
“ I think we’re doing really well. We’ve been getting better every single day, every single week. We’ve learned from every game; we’ve changed things up and they’ve done a really really great job. We’ve been playing together very very well so I think it’s coming together close to sectional time so I think we’re doing a very good job,” says Head Coach Hadity in agreement as well.
When asked about losing the 15 seniors last year and how the younger players have stood up to the plate, Coach Hadity says, “Yeah last year losing 15 seniors there was a lot that we obviously lost, but I think the sophomores from last year and the juniors from last year have really stepped up and have been contributing in some of those roles. We weren’t sure how we were going to replace all those seniors, but the returners that did come back from last year have done a great job of being leaders on and off the field. The juniors are stepping up to much larger roles, and have done an outstanding job as well.”
With all that being said, Senior David Berg says he is “100% confident that the team will keep thriving even after he graduates. I’ve been playing with most of these kids most of my life through club and through past teams for New Hartford and It’s been really great.”
When asked about some of the key players that have stood out to him this season and contributed to this success Coach Hadity says,“Everyone has contributed. I think our midfield has been doing really well playing together with Ashton Giambrone(Senior Captain), Noah Partenza(Senior Captain) and Ben Stevens(Junior Midfielder), but we’ve gotten contributions from everywhere on the field. I mean we have leading goal scorers, but everyone has done their part and done a really good job in contributing in every way that they can.”
“I started playing soccer at a young age playing AYSO and that’s where I started to play soccer and enjoy it. I enjoy playing on this team because I enjoy working as a team with some of my close friends and it makes winning feel a lot better and means a lot more” says Ashton Nole.
When asked about what he is going to miss most about soccer David Berg says “Definitely the kids. They always make it a great experience, some of them are my best friends. But yeah 100% the kids, they bring a great atmosphere, they pick me up when I’m down, and they pick others up when they’re down as well and that’s what matters most to me when playing on a team.”
The team went on to play some more games including their senior night against Whitesboro At the Don in which they honored the 5 Seniors: Baltazar Del Gato, Noah Partenza, Ashton Giambrone, Dylan Merrill, and David Berg. They came out on top with the final score of 3-0 and are heading into Sectionals now!
The Team is now in sectionals and they just won their sectional quarterfinal game against VVS that was played last Thursday at 7:00 pm for the Section III Class A Quarterfinals round and they won 4-0. They then went on to play the semi-final game Tuesday against Chittnango at Phoenix High School at 7:00 pm and won 5-0. Now they are going to play South Jefferson Tomorrow at 2:30 pm at East Syracuse Minoa High School in the Sectional Finals.
