Coming back from a strong 2021–22 season, Shorewood High School’s boys soccer team is hoping to once again achieve their goal of winning at state.

The team practices four to six times a week and has games every few days. Their first game of the season against Pewaukee proved to be a ‘good challenge’, with both teams tying 2-2. In their recent game against Greendale, the team managed to score a goal last minute and win, 1-0.

This season, the team is taking part in many important games against long-time rival teams and some new competitors as well.

“We’re playing New Berlin West at home and then we’re going to Arrowhead, which will be a big game,” said Hashim Khan, senior and varsity player. “We play Whitefish Bay and we play both the Tosas, so we have a lot of pretty big games this season.”

The team’s primary challenge for the season is adapting to the loss of some of their strongest players.

“Every year, we always lose players of significance in either their playing ability or leadership and positive influence but every year, we get new leaders that step up,” said Kyle Konkol, coach. “They bring things they’ve learned from people before them but also their own style of leadership.”

Similar to last year, the team’s goal this season is to once again win all conference games and eventually, win state.

“I think one of the biggest goals that helps all those things is just all of us getting along and finding our best style of play and being consistent in it,” Konkol said.

Konkol believes that one of the things the team could improve on is their consistency during games.

“[Being] a little bit stronger to start is something we’d wanna be better at. It’s a good group and we really get along well,” Konkol said.

Along with developing upon the team’s consistency, Konkol is looking to better his methods and accountability as a coach.

“I’m always looking for ways to communicate things better and finding different ways to motivate different kinds of people because not everybody’s motivated the same way,” Konkol said.

Overall, the team is excited to be playing together on the field and reaching their full potential this season.

“I’m looking forward to playing with all my friends,” Khan said. “It’s my last year, so it will be a lot of fun to have this experience with all my friends grown up as seniors.”

The team is grateful for the amount of support they receive from students coming to watch games.

“Every game, it seems like we get more and more students out to support the team,” Konkol said. “I know the guys and I appreciate all that support and [it] helps us build momentum as we go toward the postseason.