By Bryan Perez
Passaic Indians Soccer potentially looked like the best team in the conference, competing with teams like Clifton, Passaic County Technical Institute, Paterson Kennedy and Paterson Eastside. The boys will led their attack with one of their best, Jimmy Gonzalez coming off one of his best seasons yet, with 25 goals and 10 assists.
The boys hosted Clifton in their first game, and narrowly lost 1-0. However, they bounced back and went on a four game winning streak, beating Passaic Tech (3-1), Paterson Kennedy (2-1), West Milford (7-0) and Paterson Eastside (11-0).
Bryan Perez won Nj.com’s player of the week for having five goals and seven assists in just two games. Jimmy Gonzalez broke the school record against Paterson Eastside having made four goals that game. He broke the record of most goals in Passaic High School Soccer program. Now the record to beat, 55 goals for Passaic High School.
The boys lost their winning streak to a strong-sided Waldwick, losing 3–1, making their season record fall to (4-2). The boys fueled up after that upset and went on an 11-game-winning-streak, not only beating but shutting down teams like Clifton (1-0), Paterson Kennedy (3-0), Passaic Tech (4-0), and Fairlawn (1-0). The boys earned themselves second seed in the county tournament and fourth seed in the state tournament. Their chances of winning are really high with attackers like Andre Ruiz (20 goals, 16 assists), Jimmy Gonzalez (13 goals 6 assists) and Bryan Perez (8 goals and 13 assists).
In the county tournament Passaic started off strong with a 4-1 win over Wayne Hills. Alejandro Cuacuil, Daniel Cuacuil, Bryan Perez and Andre Ruiz all scored once against a strong sided Wayne Hills, beating them 4-1 in the quarter finals in the county tournament. However, they were upset by Paterson Kennedy in a 2-1 loss in the semi-finals. The Indians played hard, and even with three players down, still managed to take the game to overtime. Eventually in the second half of overtime, Kennedy managed to score the golden goal, which took them to the finals.
PHS went to the state tournament looking for revenge, beating a strong-sided North Bergen in penalties and Ronny Lima saved the Indians with two saves in the shootout. Andre, Alejandro, Edgar, and Bryan all scored on their penalties. Up next was a really strong Livingston face-off against the Passaic. Passaic won the match 3-1, with goal scorers Daniel, Jimmy, and Andre. Ronny made some big time saves to keep Passaic in the game, he finished the game with seven saves.
Passaic faced number one seeded Kearny High School, in their first ever school appearance in a state sectional semi-final. They gave it their all but lost the match 6-1, and that’s where their season ended.
Even though they lost this game, this was Passaic Soccer’s best season ever, winning their league. That was Passaic boys soccer’s first ever trophy. The team was one to remember with many talented players, aided by good coaching. Coach Pollaro, and Coach Turdo, coached an amazing team, leading them to many victories. The 2021-2022 soccer team ended their season with 16-6-1.
Bryan Perez, (senior – midfielder – #8) said, “I think the season didn’t go how we wanted to, we lost in counties and lost in states, but it was a good season in terms of development, all of our players became really good. All the hours spent training with coach Pollaro and coach Turdo paid off. I think even though we have many seniors graduating, our young team has developed enough to continue to make success for the soccer program.”
Jason Perez (freshman – midfielder – #12) says, “I’m proud of the boys this season, I learned a lot from them and from coach Pollaro and Turdo. The attitude the team had was one of the best. Whenever we lost a game, our team would come back stronger in the next practice and game, we were never happy to lose.”
That spirit will remain with the team, building on their success this year and in recent years to bring more championships for themselves and for PHS!
