Cape Tech Boys Soccer ‘Hungry’ To Follow Up On Title-Winning 2024 Season

PLEASANT LAKE – The Cape Tech boys soccer team had a wildly successful run last season in head coach Nick Conti’s first year leading the program.

The Crusaders bought in and were hungry, Conti said — so hungry that, just a year after finishing below .500, they went 13-3-1 in 2024 and won the Mayflower Athletic Conference Small Division league title and a vocational state title before ultimately losing in the preliminary round of the MIAA postseason Division 5 state tournament. They’re still hungry this season, and, even more, they’re competing. 

“Our identity this year is to try to change the narrative on what people see about our team and know that we're going to be a threat when we come into town, and we're going to give you a good game,” Conti said.

Cape Tech last Friday scrimmaged Mashpee in a game where the Crusaders were missing several starters, including their wingers and goalie. Top offensive and defensive players had also graduated from last season’s team.

“We lost some pretty influential players last year, so we're seeing who we have, which is definitely affecting how the game goes,” senior Alex Malone said.

The Crusaders lost the preseason exhibition, but the team captains — Malone, senior Talon Joia and junior Rahvarion Smith — came out of the match optimistic in knowing they had hung with Mashpee. There was a sense that the group was ahead of schedule, that the defense was strong and the offense would improve as the team continued to play together. 

At a school made up of students from several different towns, the kids on the Cape Tech boys soccer team haven’t played together for years like those on other town teams. Malone himself is from Mashpee and knew that the players the Crusaders had just faced have been playing together since they were in kindergarten. 

That difference can be seen, according to Conti, but Cape Tech has been working hard to create chemistry as the program continues to build.

“The fact that they can pull together and build chemistry now with that little time and try to compete, we’ve got a chance,” Conti said.

The Crusaders are looking to be a team that holds the ball in possession, Smith said, and the expectation is to, if not win another title, at least be contenders. There are teams in the Mayflower Athletic Conference that probably would not have stuck it out in a game with Mashpee like Cape Tech did last Friday, a good sign for the group. They’re building the momentum, and things are looking promising, Joia said.

“It’s going to be a fun year,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a fun season.”

To Conti, the Crusader captains have been working hard to “build together and stay together.” There’s promise that the players understand what goes into trying to build a program, he said.

“We’ve got kids that are staying with the program, and they want to win,” Conti said. “They have a desire to win, so, for me, watching this just proves the fact that these guys are hungry.”