Starpoint Boys Soccer Shows It Can Challenge The Bigger Schools

The Starpoint High School boys soccer team has enjoyed some success in recent years, but that was in ECIC III. The Spartans are now in ECIC II in soccer and there may been some doubters when Starpoint started 2017 with back-to-back-losses.

It hasn’t taken long for Starpoint to prove those doubts exaggerated. A tournament win at Lockport and a statement win over perennial ECIC II power Williamsville East has the Spartans thinking they can continue to see the success the program has grown to expect. 

“We had a rough start,” Starpoint senior defender Kyle Harrington said, “but we won that Lockport tournament and then beating the undefeated team, that’s a good run.”

Perennial ECIC II contender Williamsville East came to Pendleton ranked seventh in Western New York – and left with a 2-0 loss to the Spartans. The Flames may have dominated the shot-count by an impressive 18-4 margin – but it was two Starpoint shots that counted on the scoreboard.

“We were down on the stats but we were the ones that finished,” said senior midfielder Max Balko, who scored one of the two goals for the Spartans. “That’s a good win for us. It’s going to be them and us, I think, competing with the teams at the top so we needed that.”

It was also a statement for the Spartans, who showed they’re ready to go toe-to-toe with ECIC II schools. Moving up a class may seem like a challenge, but Starpoint is looking to show it belongs on top even against bigger schools.

“We’ve had some good years recently but this year I think we’re considered one of the underdog teams,” Starpoint coach Zach Trunzo said. “Coming up from ECIC III, some people are not counting on us to be a contender and I think we’re showing what we can do.”

Starpoint started the season with losses to small-school power East Aurora and ECIC II contender Williamsville South before things turned around for the better. The Spartans won the Lockport Tournament by defeating St. Francis and then Newfane. Starpoint then returned to ECIC II action with a win over West Seneca East and then the statement over Williamsville East, which was ranked seventh in the most recent coaches poll.

“I was little disappointed with our start so I understand why we weren’t ranked,” Trunzo said.”But hopefully next week we’ll get a little love.”

Offensively for Starpoint, junior Matt Warner (5 goals, 2 assists) and Balko (4 goals, 2 assists) have carried the load. Senior Cole Saraf is the only other Spartan to record a goal this season. Harrington, who Trunzo called “a rock on defense” is also on the scoreboard with an assist along with Jake Dickey, Vadim Prozapas and Adam Rankie.

And all in all, things continue to get better for Starpoint.

“We’ve tightened things up,” Trunzo said. “Overall we’re playing better defensively and we’re scoring goals, which is always good too.”