Eat, Sleep, and Play Soccer: Ramapo Boys’ Soccer Fall Recap

Soccer is a game of strategy, strength, and solidarity. The best teams are made up of committed players whose individual skills enhance the performance of the whole. Victory is impossible without skill and teamwork, and the Ramapo Boys’ Soccer Team is unbelievably proficient in both.

Head Coach Evan Baumgarten attributes the team’s success to “their ability to get along on and off the field.” The team cultivated these bonds throughout the preseason, most notably through a unique training process during which they spent 27 hours eating, sleeping, and playing on the field. As a result of their emphasis on building relationships, senior defensive player Gabe Tafuri Del Vecchio notes, “The team had a really close bond this year and was a tight knit family.” Jayden Onal, also a senior defensive player, speaks highly of his fellow teammates and their ability to work together, claiming, “As a team, we interacted very well, and all had each others backs no matter the circumstances of the game, which I felt inevitably led to us going undefeated in the regular season and losing only a single game all year.” 

With a record of 15-0-2, the Ramapo Boys’ Soccer Team is a Big North Freedom champion and Bergen County champion. According to Tafuri Del Vecchio, “the highlight of [the] season was beating Ridgewood 5-0 in the Bergen County Final. It was the largest margin of victory ever in a county final.” As Cole Duschang, a senior midfield player, points out, the victory “meant that [the team was] back to back Bergen County Champions.” The team’s skill is not simply a result of a natural proclivity for soccer. The boys on the Ramapo team work hard, always striving to be better, to be the best. Duschang explains, “In the beginning, it’s always hard to find the gel that creates a team that will work together, but by the end of it, you create a team that’s willing to work hard for one another and has each other’s back.”

Soccer at Ramapo is not a one way street. Unlike many coaches who place the responsibility of success solely on the shoulders of their players, Coach Baumgarten and fellow coaches Brain Winiarski and Frank Rocchio put in the work, always giving to the team what they expect to get in return. Onal claims “being part of the Ramapo team is like no other experience, it’s not something you can get anywhere else. The amount of time and effort our coaches have put in over the years to create the program is unmatched.” Everyone involved in the Ramapo Boys’ Soccer program is completely dedicated to the sport, clearly reaping the rewards of their unified stance and unparalleled devotion.

Soccer creates bonds that can never be broken, skills that will last a lifetime, and a sense of integrity and persistence that today’s generation often lacks. Ramapo is proud of its Boys’ Soccer Team and looks forward to seeing what the future holds for its players. Congratulations to the team for their Big North Freedom and Bergen County victories!