Alec Mahrer spent extra time speaking with his Beacon boys soccer team following its disheartening 2-0 loss to Martin Luther King Jr. Wednesday afternoon. The weather was nippy and the wind was picking up, but he wanted to make sure the Blue Devils didn’t get too down on themselves after their third consecutive loss.
“In the end,” Mahrer said, “these games will help us.”
The setbacks weren’t to any ordinary teams. CHSAA power Chaminade jumped out to an early two-goal lead and held on for a 2-0 non-league victory on Saturday. Perennial contender Stuyvesant blanked the Manhattan power Sunday, 1-0, and Wednesday three-time defending champion MLK, Beacon’s longtime nemesis, prevailed in a game that wasn’t as close as the scoreboard indicated.
“The confidence will come, it’s early yet,” Mahrer said. “My team will get better. We have a lot of room to grow.”
That’s a nod to the club’s youth. Mahrer is starting sophomores Ryan Cupolo (center midfielder), Max Brown (keeper) and Anthony Casagranda (left fullback). Key playmakers Tom and Peter Poulos are only juniors.
A nagging right charley horse to standout striker Pascal Louis, a senior, didn’t help Beacon’s stagnant attack, but Mahrer wasn’t making any excuses. The Blue Demons (4-3-0) lack difference-makers. They need the entire team to be in sync to score against stellar defensive units, to be in proper position. That hasn’t happened of late, not by a longshot.
Against King (7-0-0), Beacon had few good scoring chances, managing just five shots on goal. Senior Tom Poulos had a shot from 35 yards out bang off the right 45, and Cupolo sent a header high, both coming late in the second half.
“We don’t have those game-changing guys,” Mahrer said, citing the loss of seniors Baimba Freeman and Caetano Sanchez. “We need somebody to step into that role. Pascal can do it some of the time, but we’re looking for everybody to contribute to the team.”
Not all is lost, despite three division losses, Beacon’s most in three years. Last fall MLK lost twice during the regular season, both times to the Blue Demons, but rebounded, as the third seed in the city playoffs, to win its 11th city title in 13 years.
“As far as I’m concerned, they’re still the second best team in the city,” King coach Martin Jacobson said.