Niles West and North have been rivals since the beginning of their creation. Every year, each the Wolves athletic teams will play against the Vikings in what’s called the Skokie Skirmish, and the winner will get a trophy and bragging rights. This year, the boys varsity soccer team played Niles North in an intense match on Oct. 1., With a final score of 1-0, North left the game with the trophy in their hands, and Niles West was left to reflect on their performance and improve their game strategies.

Soccer Captain Alex Navarro, junior, is in charge of guiding the team to success. He motivates the team every day at practice and is always encouraging them to perform the best they can in each game. He recognized that the team has plenty to work on.

“I think that we played okay, but there’s a lot of stuff we can improve on…Something we’re gonna work on is playing more simple. I feel like…we always play the game more rushed, and…it’d be a lot better if we play simple and just like simple passes, one-two’s,” Navarro said.

Navarro was still proud of the team’s hard defense, as they barely let anything through.

“I feel like we didn’t give them many chances [to score] and the goal – even though we lost- the goal that they scored was, it was one mistake, but besides that we did really well defensively,” Navarro said. 

Assistant Coach Vasilios Papaioannou has been coaching the team for 11 years and also coaches girls varsity soccer. Papaioannou was proud of the team’s ability and efforts to stay in the game, but also noticed they have some things to work on.

“I feel like they definitely could have played better overall with their effort, their intensity, and their ability and moments to impact change for the better,” Papaioannou said.

Junior Kenan Orman played the entire game. He is devoted to soccer and to the team. Every game, Orman puts his heart into his performance, and tries to motivate the team to do the same.

“I tried motivating my team and playing…not only for myself, but the team. It’s all about the team,” Orman  said. 

Papaioannou and head coach Thomas Villamil have plans to improve the team’s techniques for their upcoming games leading into playoffs.

“We’ve got two more games left in the regular season, so we’re gonna work on improving the little things. First touch, connecting passes, finishing in the final third, and just our competitiveness and intensity,” Papaioannou said. 

The team has plans to go far into the playoffs, and hope to make it to state. Good luck to our boys varsity soccer team!