Sports

Net gain: Freshman goalie Moser excelling for veteran Poly Prep

Dylan Moser understood the task he was given when the season started. The Poly Prep freshman was taking over in net for James Superka, arguably the Ivy League’s best goalie, on a team ready to make a championship push.

“I was really scared that I was going to let a bunch of people down,” Moser said.

Instead all he has done is exceeded expectations and, along with a senior defense, has the Blue Devils poised to finish off a run at the league and NYSAISAA title. Poly coach Brooks Sweets said when the year began, Moser, whose old brother Chris is the team’s faceoff specialist, was as good as Superka, who transferred to Avon (Conn.).

“[Superka] came in freshman year and started just like Dylan,” junior attack Max Goupit said. “The cool thing is Dylan looks just as good as James did when he was a freshman.”

The underclassman’s poise and him being coachable have been a big reason why. Sweet said Moser has had only one bad game all season and other than that has just been shaky for moments or quarter of an entire contest. He also will almost immediately fix a problem or change up an approach when told what to do. Moser, who has a .721 save percentage, is one of the key reasons why the Blue Devils are 12-1 overall and 9-1 in the Ivy League.

“Dylan, he is a three-quarter guy and that’s why we are having some big wins,” Sweets said. “He’s done much better than I expected. … After the first game he has just gotten better every game.”

Moser showed off his skills in a 13-save performance in a 9-3 non-league win over PSAL power Midwood Saturday, especially against Artur Zych, one of the city’s top players. After gobbling up some early blasts, Moser stopped Zych to his right along the crease and made a low stick save right before the half to keep Poly ahead 6-1. He deflected a hard bouncing shot from Zych to end the third quarter and caught a low hard shot with his stick early in the fourth.

“I was seeing the ball pretty well today,” said Moser, who has been a goalie since the seventh grade. “I felt like I was making some pretty good stops. I saw a good amount of shots, but I got a lot shut down communicating with my defense.”

He gives a lot of the credit for his success to senior defenders Theo Kalogerakis, Graham Hill and Will O’Hearn. With his brother already on the team and getting to play with some of his future teammates over the summer made him more comfortable and helped build chemistry. It took about three games for Moser to get locked in.

“I just really picked up and felt like I played really well,” he said. “Our whole defense came together and played well.”

Moser’s teammates see and understand his potential. His transition to playing and succeeding at the varsity level has been seamless for the most part and they are looking forward to what is to come for him and their team.

“I think Dylan is a great player,” Kalogerakis said. “I can’t wait to see what he looks like over the next couple of years.”