Boys' Soccer Coach Reflects on Historic Season

By Kevin Agostinelli, staff reporter

The Sturgis East boys soccer team recently completed its historic season, finishing with an 11-4-1 record including the playoff loss to Seekonk, and longtime head coach Brian Hastings certainly played a major part in the success of the squad. Coach Hastings, a retired Sturgis teacher who also coaches the girls’ tennis team in the spring, took the time to speak with the Stormwatch about his experiences and perspectives on the soccer season.
    When asked the popular question of whether this was the best year in Sturgis boys’ soccer history, Coach Hastings made sure to acknowledge the success of all Sturgis soccer seasons.
    “Every team has been challenged yet able to be 'first' at some milestone in our program. This year's team had the best record by far, was the first team to shutout and not to lose to Nantucket, and had the highest seed ever in the State Tournament. From that aspect, yes, this team accomplished the most; but I wouldn't want to slight the other years for what they accomplished too.  I am proud of all of them and I always will be.”
    Despite the best efforts of the Storm in the state tournament, they lost 2-1 to Seekonk at home to put a sad ending onto what was otherwise a fantastic year. Coach reflected on this disappointing loss, “Just by the nature of sports, you don't win all the time…In our game with Seekonk, I don't think we played our best but we did try as hard as we ever have.  I think we were nervous and made some mistakes. That's life!”
    Arguably the greatest addition to this year’s soccer season was the East-West rivalry that now has enough drama, controversy, and passionate fans to last for many years. Coach Hastings gave several words of wisdom while discussing this rivalry:
    “Rivalry and competition are not bad things as long as we never lose sight of the fact that all of athletics is just a game…Sometimes I think we have to work harder, when the opponent is our sister school, at playing hard but leaving the game on the field.  Fans sometimes don't understand that.  Having said all this --- GO EAST!”
    Furthermore, Coach Hastings could not have been more proud of the senior class this year, especially senior captains Chris Dennison, Chris Dedecko, Ben Duncan, and Kyle Garvey: “I always count on all of the seniors to set an example for the rest of the players…the captains this year were very influential in keeping our team on track to the successes that we achieved.”
    The boys’ soccer team will definitely be a new-look team next year, with six starters and nine overall varsity players being seniors. State tournament qualification hopes aside, Coach Hastings gave a simple answer to his expectations for next year’s squad:
    “Each team builds its own attitude and character.  My expectations are always the same:  To help to develop a group of young men to maximize their potential and see where that takes us all.”