The Lake Oconee Academy boys soccer team is hungry after losing in the second round of the playoffs last year.
The Titans brought back a strong core from last season and are primed to make a return trip to the Class A Division II postseason next month.
They’re a veteran-led group this year, as a majority of their starters are seniors.
The Titans, coached by Tyler Mayer and Connor Domaleksi, are now at the midpoint of the regular season.
Mayer believes this year’s seniors are special and hopes they can lead the program to its first state title.
This season’s captains are Palmer Larkin, Knox Van Mol, and Nick Jaronski.
Larkin is one of the team’s top scorers, while Van Mol keeps opponents in check from the net.
“We have seven starting seniors this year, and three of those seniors were voted as captains,” Mayer explained. “Palmer is a very natural, raw athlete and is our goal scorer.
And then, on the other side of the pitch, we have Knox Van Mol, an All-State goalkeeper who’s done a great job coming off an injury from the football season but is trying to find his footing again in the goal.”
Jaronski wears a lot of different hats and is just as important as the other captains.
“Our third captain is Nick Jaronski,” Mayer said. “He has a tall task as we want to make sure he solidifies the middle of the field, gets the ball, distributes it, and becomes that bridge between our defense and our attackers. So those three really have made an impact for us this year, and we’ve got a great supporting cast as well.”
Leo Inostrosa, Jameson McCuin, Julio Arriaza, Adam Kalmanowicz, and other players also contribute.
After Tuesday’s loss to defending Class A Division II state champion GMC Prep, LOA’s boys have a 5-3 record. The team’s other losses have come to the Westminster School of Augusta and Evans, a Class 6A team.
Mayer believes his players have learned from each loss and will continue to improve.
“We’ve got a really nice team. I’m excited about where the season has taken us already,” Mayer said. “The losses were disappointing, but as we say, sometimes you learn a lot from losses, and I think that we have. I don’t necessarily think those scores were reflective of us. No disrespect to those teams that beat us, but I just think we found out a lot about ourselves, and with those losses, we’re just going to get better moving forward.”
Mayer wants the team to win a region championship and enter the postseason as a No. 1 seed. The Titans are currently tied with Towns County for first place in the region standings.
“The goal is to go out and win as many soccer matches as you can, and whatever accolades come with that will come,” Mayer said. “Our motto is ‘team over me,’ and if you put the team first, good things will come. Naturally, we’ve got our eyes on the big prize, which is the state championship, and we feel we’re primed to make that run this year. We’ve got to go out and win each game every night, or that goal never comes to fruition.”