If a Bengal ever sees senior captain Brayden Saunders without “the white shin guard strap one (his) right leg and the black one on (the) left leg,” fear a loss. Saunders said, without this specific uniform, he “feels off.”

Soccer players use the pressure to win as motivation.

Assistant Varsity Coach Lisa Simon said, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

“What we can do from here on out to finish the season strong and have good postseason play, I think is important,” Simon said.

The postseason is not ready for freshman player Joseph “Guapo” Duarte.

At the Oct. 15 game against Yorkville, Duarte scored four goals and an assist.

Duarte said, his expectations were “five goals and five assists for the season.”

Clearly, he has surpassed it.

Simon said, Duarte “gets to see the skills the older kids have developed and learn from them, and there’s definitely things they can pick up from him as well.”

Consider Duarte’s “intensity. He wants the ball, and you’ll hear it,” Simon said.

“He wants to score. He wants to be a threat to the opposing defenses. When you’ve got someone with that amount of talent, then you want to give them their chance and their due. There’s definitely something to be said about that,” Simon said.

The boys’ soccer team are not only fighting their way to regionals, they brought their hearts out and off the field for their charity donation for the fourth consecutive year during Nights for Nets.

They sold t-shirts for their Senior Night Oct. 10 against crosstown rival Plainfield North.

The event was started by alumni Griffin Mitchell. All proceeds will be sent to Africa to make bed nets to fight Malaria.

Coach Cosimo Patano said, “Every seven dollars we raise is a bed net. If we can get enough to supply 40 to 50 families, we’ve done a good job.”

Coaching these athletes requires more than knowing the rules.

Patano said, “I view us as a ship and they’re navigating it. I’m just the passenger, so whatever I can do to help create the ease and steer them in the right direction, I will. It’s their season, and they’ve got to make it a good experience. I’m here to just put pieces in place.”

Clearly this team has bonded over more than their love for the sport.

Patano said, “I tell the boys I see them as my family and my own kids, so I treat them like they’re my own. I do it for different reasons, to see them grow as players.

Captains Kolin Goss and Saunders accept nothing but full effort from these teammates.

Saunders said, “Our biggest competition is ourselves because, as a team, we come out some days ready to play, some days we don’t. We’re a good team when we want to be.”

Patano said, “Strong morality and mentality supersedes strong skills. We have to trust each other, trust your teammates.”

Patano said, “At the end of the day, it’s not about winning or losing because they won’t remember that stuff. I’m trying to make it the best experience as possible, like develop new friendships, instill good habits, and make them good people. So, at the end of the day, hopefully I can challenge them and create them into young productive men of society, then I think I’ve done a good job.”

The long-awaited regional play for the Bengals was held Oct. 19 against Romeoville at Romeoville High School.