Thursday, October 1, 2026
An effort to improve its hand this season had given Calhoun's boys' soccer team offensive firepower in spades.
But when the chips were down, turns out all it needed was its ace.
Boasting Nassau Conference AA2’s top defense for two years straight, the Colts – who had eight ties last season – "focused on finishing” this year, said coach Chris Vogel, who’d set a season scoring target of 30 goals for his squad, a mark it eclipsed overall (31) at a clip of two tallies per game, twice last season’s rate.
Forwards Jacob Bachrach, Liam Brown and Lucas Nangle, along with All-County midfielder Drew Lennon, were the leading lights in Calhoun’s offensive renaissance – Bachrach (six goals, seven assists) and Brown (eight, three) ranking fifth and sixth in the conference in points, respectively.
At rival Glen Cove Oct. 17, however, in the teams’ regular-season finale, it would be the Colts’ defense – perhaps fittingly – putting the bow on a breakthrough season.
Needing only a draw to secure its first league title since 2016, Calhoun saw its back line – led by All-Conference backs Matthew Borgese, Jack Gunn and Colin Friedman – along with first-year goalie Austin Sheehan, deliver its ninth shutout in a scoreless tie against the Knights, sending the freshly-crowned champion Colts to the county Class AA playoffs as the No. 2 seed (their opponent, at Herald press time, to be determined).
“Our (defenders) really have benefitted from experience,” Vogel said. “They communicate and know each other so well, and what the team should be doing, it’s really like they coach themselves.”
“We were similar last year in not giving up many goals, so that carried over,” added Vogel, whose club (11-2-2, 10-2-2 in AA2) for a second straight season allowed a league-best half-goal per game. “And also, Austin Sheehan is a first-class talent. So with our returning center backs and a good goalie, that’s a good foundation for a defense. Plus, we had great support from our bench players, and we use them a lot.”
A season-opening 2-1 league loss at Roosevelt served as an early jolt for the Colts, who promptly recalibrated – if not to say vented – in a 5-0 non-league romp over Wantagh (A1) followed by a 4-0 win against league foe Malverne/East Rockaway, a nine-goal outburst to introduce Calhoun’s new offensive identity – the Colts, in two games, matching half of last year’s total production (18 goals).
“After losing the first game, the kids didn’t just put their heads down,” Vogel said. “They kept asking, ‘What can we do to get better?’ It was a lesson, and they responded to it well.
Bachrach, whose three goals paced Calhoun during its two-game tornado of scoring, ranks second in AA2 with a team-best seven assists. Brown’s eight goals lead the team, with Lennon’s seven tallies ranking second on the Colts ahead of Bachrach’s six and Nangle’s five.
Sheehan’s goals-against average (0.5) tops the conference, while his 59 saves rank third.
“We knew we had talent, and we wanted to win the conference” said Vogel, whose club starts playoffs at home Oct. 25. “The boys appreciate what they’ve accomplished. But we keep it simple. They just want to stay focused on doing a good job.”
