You could hear Riverhead soccer head coach Lamine Traore until the final whistle even though the game was well out of reach.
“Get up!” “Win the ball!” “Don’t give up!”
It’s just a part of who he is.
“I don’t give up,” Traore said. “And I still believe in these kids.”
Riverhead endured its worst loss of the season Friday afternoon at the hands of the Newfield Wolverines. The final score: 4-0. The defeat dropped the Blue Waves to 0-3 on the season, losing each game by at least two goals.
“It’s been tough,” said sophomore midfielder Kevin Elejalde. “But we have to keep our faith. We’re a really good team. We just need to communicate better.”
Traore knows the team doesn’t lack athletic ability and believes that they can compete with any team. The only issue is the comfortability with one another; the Blue Waves are missing the chemistry every other team brings to the field. Other schools are able to play year round as a team because of the system they have put in place; Riverhead has no such system. These kids are thrown together every year and have a month to build chemistry from scratch.
“We’re going to build a program,” Traore said. “We have to.”
“I know what these kids are able to do,” he continued. “I wish they knew their potential. Seriously.”
“The biggest problem is up here,” Traore pointed to his head. “They need to believe in themselves and trust themselves and leave all the other things they have going on and play soccer.”
When asked about the team chemistry, Ellejande said, “Right now, out of 100 percent, we’re about at 50. We need to get that to 100 so that we can get some wins.”
“We played hard today,” he said. “But we obviously need to keep working. We need to keep going hard in practice. It will all come together, we need to believe.”
It’s not like the Blue Waves couldn’t create scoring opportunities, because they did, but the ability to finish is just not there.
Sophomore forward Phillip Barabanov had one hit the crossbar after trying to kick it over the goaltender in the first half. A goal could have changed the ga,e at that point. Barbanov kept at it and created more chances but nothing reached the back of the net. Traore mentioned the fire that Barabanov played with today to the team in the post-game huddle, and encouraged others to play the same.
“If everyone played with his intensity we would be more successful,” Traore said. “We need everyone to play with that same fire and passion.”
The good thing is that the three toughest opponents in the league are out of the way for now. Newfield, North Babylon, and Smithtown West have a combined record of 11-1-1.
It’s back to the drawing board for the Riverhead coach, but the season is far from over.
Contact Michael Hejmej: michael@riverheadlocal.com
RiverheadLOCAL photos by Peter Blasl
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