By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Greece Athena boys’ soccer coach Mike Butler likes his squad’s chances for the 2018 campaign. So when it came time to putting together the season schedule, Butler went looking for the best challenges he could find.
The fifth-year coach started at the top … of the nation.
“I thought it would be fun to take a trip, so I wondered who the number one team in the nation is,” Butler said of an internet search he did last spring. “I looked it up, made a phone call and we were able to set up the game. It worked out well.”
The Trojans will open their season on Wednesday at St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark, New Jersey; the team ranked No. 1 in the country by Top Drawer Soccer and USA Today.
“I looked at the history and saw that they’ve been the 11-time national champions or number one-ranked team,” Butler noted. “They’re an incredible program.”
St. Benedict’s list of alums include former USMNT captain, Claudio Reyna, current Columbus Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter and Tab Ramos, who took a notorious helicopter ride that changed the direction of the program.
The current Gray Bees include UCLA commit Celio Pompeu as well as Henrique Cruz (Akron commit) and Boti Ebenezer (Manhattan College).
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“We have a lot of talent coming back. I knew we were going to have a chance to be pretty competitive with anybody we played.
“We might go down there and get whacked. I don’t think we will. I think we’ll go and have a good game.”
Athena returns Othman Belhseine (11 goals, five assists), senior defender Ryan Burns, Dylan Rice (eight goals, six assists) Yakup Simsek and CJ Takatch (13 goals, five assists) as well as a corps of newcomers from last year’s junior varsity squad. Add to that group Dylan McDermott a crafty midfielder who has played throughout his high school career with Empire Academy.
Both Rice and Takatch have represented Team USA and Global Premier Soccer at the FC Bayern Munich Youth Cup. Belshiene spent three months during the offseason training in Italy. McDermott is committed to play at Rutgers University.
“They’re excited,” Butler said of his side. “I told them some time late spring when I found out that we had the game. They’re fired up for the trip, and they definitely want to go down and have a good showing.
“We’ll not embarrass ourselves. Section V is a really good area for soccer. Either way it’s going to be a lot of fun and a good experience.”
Athena won three straight sectional title before falling to Brighton in last year’s Class A1 semifinal. The Trojans won the 2014 NYSPHSAA Class A championship.
Athena will leave Tuesday morning for New Jersey and spent the evening sightseeing in New York City before kicking off Wednesday at 1 PM.
“We’re going to have a lot of fun.”
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