The Hill’s varsity boys soccer team defeated national powerhouse South Kent School for the first time in Hill’s history. The score was 1-0 with Clayton Collum ’24 scoring the one and only goal Sept. 10. 

The captains of the team Harrison Ritts ’24, Jaelen Toole ’25, Jesse Gulati ’24 stated that “this game against South Kent really boosted our confidence knowing that it was the first time in history.” 

The head coach Kris Donaldson was especially proud of the team. 

“It’s a huge accomplishment not only for the soccer program but for the whole school,” Donaldson said. “This is the first time in history we have beat South Kent and they have been number one in the country for the past 6 or 7 years.” This is how important this accomplishment is to Hill.

This win puts the team well on its way to fulfilling one of its major goals this year: get to the state finals 

The soccer team hasn’t won a state championship since 2013, so their majority focus is on this goal.

Winning MAPL Championships again is the other goal they would want to reach. They have done so for the past 5 years. 

This year, Donaldson has said this team is a small team, there are more younger players, and so they would have more time to work on their philosophies. He stated “this is the typical South Kent team we have faced, but I think we adapted our game plan to them, and yet we played to the best of our ability that game and came out the win.” Adapting to gameplan is definitely one of the most challenging parts to get control of. No game is ever predicted; especially how players choose to play. They also played to the best of their ability as said in the quote.

Donaldson last year was just an assistant coach, but this year even with him coaching, nothing has changed dramatically. “There were a few tactical tweaks this year, we definitely try to keep the ball more,” Donaldson said. These tweaks are the important factor to winning this game. 

This win marked an important milestone in Hill’s athletics. “It’s a huge accomplishment not only for the soccer program but for the whole school,” Donaldson said.