Starting the season strong, the Rio Americano Boys Varsity Soccer team has high hopes for the upcoming year, a year which will hopefully include winning playoffs. The Rio Americano Boys Soccer program has consistently impressed Rio, winning league last year and making it to the quarter-finals in playoffs. However, this year, the senior captains, brothers Hunter and Garrett Brown and Benny Chavez, feel that the team will make it even farther in playoffs while also dominating league play. Andrew Sue, a senior and returning varsity player from last year, is very optimistic about the upcoming season. “I think we have a lot of potential to be a great team,” he said, “we have a lot of talent and many of us have played with one another before.” Sue also believes that the team can succeed in playoffs if they learn some discipline. He claims that “if we can straighten up we can hang with any team,” even the teams in our new league, Christian Brothers, Casa Robles, and Vista Del Lago. So far, Sue’s prediction has proven correct. The team has only played pre-season matches at this point, but in many of those games they have stepped up and claimed victory. Overcoming a defeating loss of 3-1 against Franklin on a Monday, the Wednesday of that same week the team pulled out a 6-0 victory over Folsom high school. That same week, the team defeated the Oakridge team with a 1-0 score. The game deciding goal was scored by senior Captain Chavez off of a penalty kick.These victories and many others are a prelude to the hopefully equally successful league play. Agreeing with Sue, Hunter Brown returning for his third year of varsity play as captain, also believes that the team will do great things this season. He says that he personally likes the team this year because “it doesn’t have a lot of selfish players.” He believes that the team works very well together, and everyone looks out for each other on an off the field. Another player that is looking forward to this upcoming year in the big leagues is the “super-sub” Ben Kerr. Kerr has been playing soccer for 11 years and finally has made it to the Varsity level. He sure impressed his coach in a pre-season game against Folsom during which he scored Rio’s first hat trick of the season so far. “I think my strongest asset is my quickness,” Kerr said, “being a forward, speed is very important.” This year of Boy’s Soccer should be a very eventful and successful one, at least according to some of the star players, and hopefully they will represent Rio in the championship of playoffs this year. These high expectations will be hard to meet, but the players will do their best to put on a good show for their spirited audiences.