Herndon Boys Dominate in Season Opener

The Herndon Hornets boys soccer team is counting on senior Patrick McLaughlin to lead them in the 2012 season.

McLaughlin, touted as one of the best high school soccer players in the Northern Region, did not disappiont as he scored five goals in the Hornets' season-opening 7-1 victory over Broad Run on Monday.

The team lost three of 10 starters from 2011. But now the Hornets consist solely of juniors and seniors. Coach Sean Lanigan said the competition was so fierce at tryouts this off-season that he was unable to bring up many of the junior varsity players expected each season. In fact, he said six to eight players who would have usually made the squad had to be kept on JV.

“We had so many freshmen coming in, I had very few JV players come up because I didn’t have any room,” Lanigan said. “I had six guys come out that I wasn’t expecting and they made the squad. So there are a lot of new faces but good talent.”

Still, the coach is thrilled with the new additions. One of those is Abdi Yusuf, who is a member of the D.C. Academy Program. Abdi regretted not playing for Herndon High last season. So, he approached Lanigan during the off-season and said he was willing to commit the time necessary to play for his high school in 2012.

“We got a couple of surprises this year,” the coach said. “[Abdi] is speedy and very skillful. He plays right back or right mid. Miki (Yilma), who used to play with EK [Korvah] and McLaughlin on the club team, really caught my eye and I said ‘who is this kid?’ He’s got speed, and he’s feisty.”

That addition of Abdi has already paid dividends as he scored his first goal for the Hornets against the Spartans Monday night.

Lanigan and the team are happy to see a healthy EK Korvah back in action. Korvah suffered hampering leg injuries last season and never quite got rolling. He was sidelined for the majority of the 2011 season. For the Hornet fans who wanted to see McLaughlin and Korvah together on the attack during the 2011 postseason, you just might get your chance to see it live, come late spring.

“Right now [Korvah] is injury free and he’s looking good,” Lanigan said. “And right now we’re working on Patrick getting into soccer shape because he’s in basketball shape.”

Apparently basketball shape is much closer to soccer shape than Lanigan expected since Patrick had a career night with five goals in the season opener.

Korvah assisted McLaughlin twice in the Broad Run match. McLaughlin told Patch before the season began that he was excited at playing with a “healthy EK” once again.

Senior goalkeeper Jack Clarke is back. he started the season with 12 saves on Monday. Broad Run would score its only goal after Clarke was taken out of the game, as the score was out of reach for the Spartans.

“Jack’s going to start and that’s going to be our key," Lanigan said. "He’s something special. My level of concern is if we get hurt at goalkeeper, we could be in a little bit of trouble.”

The coach and fans alike saw several Hornets transition into stars last season. One of them is Alex Bednarek, who served up his first assist on the season Monday night. Lanigan is counting on Bednarek to be a big part of the team’s success this year. Another Hornet who Lanigan talked up a great deal last week was veteran Bryant Fernandez. Fernandez came on strong midway through last season, proving to be a go-to guy at midfield. He had one assist versus Broad Run.

Last year, the players focused on going undefeated in the regular season, which they accomplished but were bounced from postseason play fairly early. But Lanigan said this year the team has a much different focus. The players want banners—plain and simple. He added an undefeated season means nothing to them this year. The Hornets want to hang championship banners from the rafters of the gymnasium "so 20 years from now they can say, 'hey, we helped get that,'" the coach said.

Herndon travels to Thomas Jefferson on March 19. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.