New Season, New Coach for McCann Boys
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Tom Bona era for the McCann Tech boys soccer team begins on Wednesday when the Hornets travel to Pathfinder for the first game of a home-and-home series that wraps up Friday.
Last fall, the Hornets were 5-3 at home on the way to a 9-10 overall record, and with the notable exception of leading scorer Chad Raimer (25 goals, four assists), most of the team's scoring punch returns in '13.
Junior Shane Fuller is McCann's leading returning scorer. He had nine goals and a team-high 13 assists as a sophomore.
His classmate John Leal figures to be among the team's leaders, along with tri-captains Dillon Carr, Connor Little and Josh Budaj.
Though seniority had no currency in Hornets camp this summer, Buda said.
"I told them all it was an open competition," he said shortly after a preseason scrimmage with cross-town rival Drury. "I said nobody had a job set in stone. You needed to earn it again and show that you want it.
"And they stepped up. They all stepped up. Everybody worked really hard. I got a solid group, a solid core."
One big challenge for the veteran assistant coach: learning the Tri-County League, which he will see for the first time this fall after spending the last seven with Drury's girls program in the Berkshire County circuit.
"I do have a disadvantage, and I tell the guys this: I don't know our competition," Bona said. "I'm probably going in sometimes thinking more defensively starting a game until i see more of the team."
The league being spread out as its name implies, Bona said it would be a challenge to do too much scouting before meeting new opponents, so that early defensive posture may be in place for a while.
No matter what style of play McCann uses, Bona is happy with the effort he has seen from the Hornets so far.
"I've got a great bunch of guys," he said. "They've been really working hard. I'm obviously changing everything on them from last year. We changed our formation, and we're working on more ball control. I don't want to play kickball. I want these guys to play soccer. And they're coming along"