2nd Half - Andres Reyes

“Despite the miserable weather, tonight’s one of those nights that reminds you of what got you into coaching in the first place why you continue doing it. Seeing the players get the outcome they work so hard for and the joy it brings them - it’s one of the greatest feelings.

We’ve played East tight over the past couple seasons and there were a couple games that we felt we were good enough to get a result, but to see what it meant to the group to get over the line tonight was great.

It was a difficult night for anyone to play at their very best, but we were so solid at every line of the field. Our back line of Xan Dickinson, Kieran Thompson, and Ethan DeHaven gave nothing away and gave us the platform that we needed to be aggressive.

Our midfield of John Vrettos, Michael Rafalowski, and Paolo Leiva did such a terrific job of not allowing East to play through us, but were also dangerous playing forward.

Our forwards Andres Reyes and Jameson Durie were relentless all night, and Max Bandurski gave us some really good big minutes tonight with a handful of absences.

While I don’t want to mention every single player that played tonight, I absolutely could because they were all terrific. Our game is often a “weak link” sport - you find the opposition’s weakness and you exploit it. I didn’t think we showed any real weaknesses tonight regardless of who was on the field.

On a night where you almost expect mistakes to happen due to the conditions, our group showed so much focus and positivity which probably helped us get through despite missing a handful of key guys.

This season has had its ups and downs, but we’ve always felt when we are truly focused and give nothing away easily, we can compete with and beat anybody. Tonight is just another example of that.

A special mention for Paolo Leiva tonight as well - we’ve demanded a lot out of him this year despite being just a sophomore and he’s had his ups and downs, but the game he played tonight shows why we’ve challenged him so much. He was an absolute difference-maker.”