Matthew Zarlenga takes over as the Head Coach of the Lakeside Dragons boys’ soccer program.
“I am looking forward to seeing our returning players come together to support the growth of our younger players. I would be lying if I didn’t say that I am also looking forward to having my son Conner by my side as my assistant as we push the team to become better players, teammates and young men,” Zarlenga.
The Dragons had one of their best seasons last year with a record of 8-7-2.
“There is a lot of pressure taking over any program, especially one that is coming of one of the, if not the, best season in Lakeside’s program. We have a great group of returning players from that team and a good group of younger players that are all eager to continue building the program. I know that it’s going to be a learning curve for both myself, and the team as we learn from each other and possibly a different style of coaching. It will take some time, but we will stay a competitive team and keep in the right direction that Coach Adams pushed for,” Zarlenga said.
Returning letter winners for the Dragons are: Emanuele Fantozzi, Joshua Chamberlain, Jared-Narvaez-Mercado, Jaylin Streit, John Harchalk IV, Axavier Sanabria, Mason Adam, Alexander Griswold, Giovanni Narvaez-Mercado and Preston Zarlenga. Other players looking to see playing time this year are: Steven Slatter Jr., Isaiah Cheich, Logan Gammon-Azbill, Ved Patel, Vaugh Patel-Cole, Emmanuel Stein and Kruz Zoretich.
“Practice has been going well. With different styles between Conner and I, we continually adjust our practices. We have been putting emphasis on building stamina, stronger passing techniques and more recently a push on defensive play. This will continue to evolve as we all get settled in,” Zarlenga.
The Dragons want to be competitive within the district, win games and have fun doing it as some of their season goals.
“I also want to see these young men build a companionship amongst one another that extends past their days at Lakeside,” Zarlenga said.
The strength for the Dragons this year will be a solid set of core players to build off of with a strong work ethic.
“Everyone has been more than willing to help each other become better. We know we have a lot of work to do, but we are going into this season with a positive attitude,” Zarlenga said.
“I am blessed (and maybe a little lucky) to get the chance to coach players on this team that I had the opportunity to coach or coach against when they were playing youth soccer for the Ashtabula YMCA, including Vaughn, Isaiah, and my son Preston. It’s amazing to see that along with the YMCA, I may have had an impact on them to continue to play soccer,” Zarlenga added.
