The WNY high school soccer scene is in great shape. Section VI in particular happens to showcase some of the premier teams in the state. That’s where we found our week one Athlete-of-the-Week. Pa Lu of I-Prep scored 9 goals and had 4 assists in the first full week of the season.
Tony Alessi, now in his 4th year coaching at I-Prep, spoke glowingly about his senior captain. “He’s just having a great year. He has 15 goals in limited play. He’s sat a lot in the 2nd half of games because we were up on teams” said Alessi. “He’s a great student too. All players need an Academic Progress Report signed off by all of their teachers in order to play. Pa Lu is an extremely hard worker. He’s one of our best players.”
“I’m coming off an injury, healing and getting better. Going through therapy to get better, stronger” Lu said. Bad news for the rest of the league. I-Prep is 5-0 in League play (B) and 6-1 overall. The lone loss came early in the year to St. Joe’s in which Lu saw very limited action.
I-Prep spent Wednesday preparing for a very tough league match Thursday against Lafayette (4-0). “It’s going to be a very tough game, they are all tough in B” said Alessi. “I used to do this thing when I was coaching football, the day before a game is our walk through. So today we’re just stretching, running and some passing drills to prepare.”
As I watched these boys practice I couldn’t help but notice that they only had one net. “Keller Technology donated that to us along with trophies for our banquet and they also took care of the food.” It’s amazing to see just how much Pa Lu and these other West side teams are doing with such limited resources.
“My mother, she works in a hotel and my Dad is working at a restaurant, he cuts the produce and things.” Lu told me.
Soccer is life here. “They are all great students and good kids too. That’s the biggest difference from football when I coached. I never have to worry about who is eligible week-to-week like I did then” Alessi said.
“I have a brother at Lafayette but he does not play soccer there and two younger brothers. It’s going to be a tough game tomorrow. We are ready and always prepared. We want to win and go to States. We are all good players, we just have to play as a team” Lu said.
Pa Lu is a five-year starter at I-Prep. He enjoys living in America but says “Buffalo, it snows too much.”
Comments