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First Posted: 8/29/2012

The Abington Heights Comets boys soccer team members are looking to reach the goal of winning their third district championship in only five years.

“Our goal is to win the league championship again,” head coach Steve Klingman said. “We have some depth and we are pretty solid. Hopefully we will go on to districts.” He also believes that they will be one of the favorites in the league.

The returning starters for the team this year are: senior center back Ryan Patrick, senior center mid fielder Matt Hoyt, senior forward Kevin Elwell, as well as two junior defenders Justin Levy and Sante Romaldini. In total, the team has five seniors and 18 juniors this year, but Klingman is unsure of who else will start for the team.

Six starters who recently graduated include: goalie Connor Pacyna, John Loboda, Tom Steinbach, Brian Mattern, Ian Williams and Seth Pinches.

Coach Klingman added that they have a good number of juniors who have a lot of playing time.

When asked about his other league favorites, Coach Klingman named Delaware Valley, who they defeated in overtime last season, Honesdale, Wallenpaupack and “of course huge rival Scranton Prep.”

Abington Heights will play its first game of the season Aug. 31 against their rival Scranton Prep at Scranton Prep.

The Comets finished last season with 15 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie. They were Lackawanna League champions and District 2 champions for the second time in the four years that Klingman has led the team. In 2011, they were District 2 AAA champions and in 2009, District 2 AA champions.

New alignment for Division III

The Lakeland Chiefs boys soccer team will play the first game of the new alignment for 2012 Sept. 10 for Division III at home against Montrose. The league changed the alignment of who Lakeland will compete against this year.

“We are looking forward to playing new schools and being competitive this year,” Lakeland head coach Joe DePasquale said of the new divisions.

Mountain View moves to Division III after playing in Division I last season. Holy Cross also moves to Division III after playing in Division II last season.

For the 2012 season, the returning starters will be: James Blevins, Matt Morell, Casey Albino, Bradley Strong, Scotty Cortes, Michael Tomcykoski and Anthony Pawluck. As for the five players who have graduated they are: Jim Germain, Nate Wnuk, Colby Donahue, Dalton Larkin and Adam Wychowanec.

When asked which league favorite the Chiefs are most looking forward to playing this year, DePasquale named Mountain View.