EH boys soccer participated in a great season this year by making it to the State Championship for the first time in over 20 years. East Haven Soccer has always been a team that was looked down on because it wasn’t the “best” or a team that didn’t have “good players.” The East Haven boys made a big difference this year 2024-2025 and proved everyone wrong. The boys were able to work hard and work together to get where they wanted to be. The boys soccer team had a new coach, Ryan Subtil, who helped lead the team to many victories.
The captains this year were George Orellana, Logan Mendez, and Anthony Lucci. As the leaders of this team, they showed that they dared to keep the team together, to work hard in every game, and to always keep a positive attitude. George Orellana said that he has “played [soccer] since I was 6 years old. I got the position as a captain for being a role model on the team. I feel fantastic about the season. No one expected us to make it so far and it’s an incredible way to end my senior year. By making history.” Logan Mendez said, “I’ve been playing for four years, and I was dedicated to winning.” Anthony Lucci shared, “I’ve been playing since 8th grade. I got my position as captain by supporting everyone on the team and leading by example. This season I could tell that we were all coming into it with a stronger mentality and a lot of talent and hard work. I was proud to be the junior captain of the team that brought East Haven back into state after years of not qualifying, and I hope we can continue to improve for years to come. Thank you to the captains for keeping the team together and always choosing the right things for the team.
Junior Matteus Ponte was a big part of the team and contributed a lot of assists. He also scored several goals even after coming back from injury. Freshman Vedad Vrabac also contributed a lot in the middle of the field. After all, everyone played a big role in all of the games, proving everyone wrong and showing East Haven that they could also make a difference.
The new coach, Ryan Subtil, explained, “In the summer, when I took the job, the boys told me their reasons why they played soccer. Many told me it was because they love it and it’s part of who they are. That individuality is something we wanted to highlight because we had no idea how the season would go.” He worked really hard with the boys and made them understand each other, they had to work together to be able to get to the point they wanted to be at. Moving forward, they had a great season and had wins and losses, and of their losses, they worked even harder. But they made it; “By our last game against Amity, it felt like a different team as instead of having to coach at the moment to get the result, it felt as though this was a team executing at a high level.” The boys made it to States and had a great first round taking a win of 4-3. The second round of states they had a great game but that’s where their season ended. They did everything they could that night and played. Coach Ryan said, “While the team lost that day, I have never been more proud of a group I have coached before. Everyone that was part of this team fully bought into the project and did all that was needed to make history. I feel this is only the start, the captains took the lead in the final post-game talk and told us that this team was a family and that this will not be the end but the beginning of a new, stronger program.”
We want to thank all of the boys for making this season a great success and making history after 20 years, we wish them nothing but the best of luck next year.
