The 2022 season has come to an end for the Salisbury High School boys soccer team. It ended in heartbreaking fashion as the Falcons fell just one win short of qualifying for the District 11 Class 2A tournament. With a 7-9 overall record at the end of the year, if one of those games that ended in defeat turned the table and was a victory, they would have been in the postseason.

Head coach Mark Allinson is used to playing and winning in the postseason in his career. He knew it was going to be tough this year with his limited roster and the experience of the team.

“Going into the season I knew that we would need to have some players to step up offensively and defensively,” said Allinson. “Depth and numbers have been an issue and it showed this year.”

When looking at the roster, the Falcons had most of their experience and talent on the offensive side of the field, while the defense was more of a younger unit except for starting goalie Blaine Berger, a junior.

Sophomore Alejandro Zuniga Garcia led the Falcon offense with 16 goals and three assists. Junior Jack Monahan tallied nine goals and two assists. Andres Luna recorded 10 assists. Sophomore Josh Hudak contributed six goals and six assists. Senior Noah Kichline finished with four goals and classmate Jackson Kramp added one goal and two assists on the year.

“Offensively, we had some firepower back and it showed with the type of year that Alejandro, Jack, Andres, Josh, Noah and Jackson had,” Allinson said. “We were competitive in most games that we played. Defensively, our keeper, Blaine Berger, had an outstanding season. He kept us in many games and anchored a defense that was relatively young. Jacob Knerr also had a solid season as a center back. We were able to gain experience on the back line as the season progressed.”

Some highlights of the season that Allinson pointed out include a hard-fought win against Wilson and four other losses that were settled by one-goal margins.

He was pleased to get every player on the roster some varsity minutes in most games.

Salisbury featured seven senior players that played in their last games for the program.

“Our senior captains, Noah and Jackson, provide stability,” said Allinson, “and our other seniors, Luna Rivera, Ryan Aguilar, Daniel Cordera Mora, Gavin Berger and Mohammad Suleiman, all contributed during our season. Each one of them has been a pleasure to coach and I’ve enjoyed watching their development through the years. I’d also like to single out our senior manager, Katelyn Smith, who was a valuable asset to our program.”