Fall Sports Notebook: Seniors, new coach trying to take Milford boys soccer where its never been

Oyster River High School center midfielder Anson Thibault never gave much thought to the Milford High School boys soccer program.

Facing the Spartans was considered an easy win on the calendar right through his senior season. Now, the first-year Milford High School boys soccer coach is helping to erase that thought process from the minds of every other player and coach in Division II.

Opponents have an open mind this fall, as the Spartans sit at 12-0-1 heading into their Oct. 15 game at John Stark.

The 2017 Oyster River graduate, who went on to play two years of college soccer at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass., before transferring to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

After graduating this past spring with a degree in Biblical Studies, he landed a job at Crossway Christian Church in Nashua, and jumped at the chance to coach up the road in Milford. He was hired in late May and started voluntary workouts in early June.

With 15 seniors on the roster, led by captains Noah Matthews and Ryon Constable, it’s been an easy and successful transition into coaching for Thibault.

“From the get-go, coming in, I could feel the excitement, feel the energy they had,” said Thibault, who had done some volunteer assistant coaching at OR while in college. “They just wanted to play. It’s a group that really just loves playing soccer, that enjoys playing soccer, and enjoys being together. It’s easy having 15 seniors who are so close to each other and played with each other for so long. They care about each other, want the best for the team and the best for each other.

“It’s not a group I feel like I had to bring together. It’s a group that was already together, and I just had to bring the vision for how we were going to put things into action. It’s been a true joy for me so far.”

When Thibault graduated high school, Milford’s boys soccer program was still in a serious rut. From 2012 through 2018, Milford was 9-100-3 with no playoff appearances. It was a program that almost had to cancel its 2009 season for lack of players.

Things started improving in 2019 with this senior class playing as sophomores. The Spartans went 9-3-4, earning a bye as the Division II tournament’s fourth seed before falling to Bow in the quarterfinals. Last fall, Milford went 2-2-1 in a shortened regular season and forfeited it’s playoff game due to COVID-19.

For the players on this season’s roster, especially a good number of those seniors who have played varsity all four years, it’s been an amazing experience.

“It just shows that no matter what, with the amount of change we’ve had – you know, three coaches in four years – and for everyone here to step it up and continue to play at their highest level as individuals and as a team, really shows our character,” said Constable, who was second on the team in scoring with eight goals and three assists through 12 games. “We’ve stuck together as a group through those changes and worked together to improve each and every year. It’s great to see the consistent improvement over the last four years. We’re seeing the hard work paying off this year and it’s a great feeling.”

The other seniors joining Constable and Matthews on Milford’s roster are scoring leaders Goran Junior Skoric (14 goals, 4 assists), Bernad Glusac (7 goals), Conor Sullivan (7 goals), along with Zachary Naun, Christian Tourlitis, Mason Daly, Trevor Naun, Nicholas Giordano, Tyler O’Brien, Nathan Pettingell, Brady Mitchell, Michael Spearman and Colin Gregg.

Underclassmen making key contributions to the squad are freshmen Avery Wilson, who has started every game in goal, and Joonas Mangum, along with juniors Maddox Maguire, Colby Lajoie, Gage Tlapa, Jay Remella and Aden Cremonini.

“This year has been super exciting,” Matthews said. “Just to see the team get better and better each and every year since I was here as a freshman to right now as a senior has been awesome to watch and be a part of. I’m really enjoying it. I’m just excited to be part of it all.”

The growth of players and the overall program didn’t just start with that playoff push in 2019. The seed for success was planted during this senior class’s successful middle school years.

“Growing up in Milford, coming up through the middle school program, we’ve known that Milford High School was not successful ever,” Constable said. “We were told that early on. I’ve been here since 2012 so I’ve known that we didn’t win much. But to be able to walk in here, and starting in the middle school where we won a championship and didn’t lose a game, that’s when we wanted to begin that turnaround for our program.”

They have done exactly that, but Constable won’t be satisfied with just playing in the tournament one more time before graduating.

“My sophomore year we won nine games, that’s the best season we ever saw,” Constable said. “We were the four seed, but we got eliminated, so that hurt. Then last year, we got cut short with COVID. So all of us seniors, and we have a lot, we’ve got a chip on our shoulders this year.

“We know that there’s never been a team like this before and we really want to hold our heads high when it comes to being the team to turn this program around and bring the championship to Milford, who has never seen it. We want to be that team to really push the program past where it was. Make it that Milford is known in Division II, rather than being the team to come to and beat them every time you play them. It’s what Milford deserves.”

Hall of Fame

Merrimack Valley inducting three this weekend

Merrimack Valley will induct three more into its athletic hall of fame on Oct. 16 at 1:45 p.m. at MV Athletic Stadium.

The 2021 class consists of Mark Fontaine (1972), Kim Kenney (Cheney, 1984) and Scott Drapeau (1991).

Fontaine was a three-sport athlete for the Pride, starring in baseball, basketball and soccer. Kenney, currently the junior varsity field hockey coach, is going in on her 23 years of success as the varsity field hockey coach, during which she posted a career record of 201-151-16 and one championship. Drapeau scored more than 2,000 points and pulled down more than 1,000 rebounds during his MV basketball career while leading the Pride to state titles in 1989 and 1990. He was also recently named the new head coach at Bow.

Wrestling

Tickets still available for Chooljian celebration

A celebration of Timberlane Regional wrestling coach Barry Chooljian, who retired after 34 years with a state record 613-52-5 record and a record 10 New England titles, will take place on Sunday, Nov. 14, from 5-9 p.m. at the Atkinson Resort and Country Club.

Tickets are $50 and can be purchased until Nov. 8 through Venmo (@Sue-Kappler) or by sending a check payable to TRHS Wrestling Boosters to Sue Kappler, 35 Riverbend Dr., Sandown, N.H., 03873.

George Scione writes for NH-HighSchoolSports.com and has covered high school sports in New Hampshire since 1995. To report standout performances or offer ideas for the high school notebook send an email to scioneg@gmail.com.