The Salisbury High School boys soccer team has the positive attitude and offensive capability to return to the District 11 tournament and content for a title during the 2022 season, according to head coach Mark Allinson, in his 28th season at the helm.

The Falcons finished last season with a 7-10 overall record and a 3-9 mark in the Colonial League, but qualified for districts, before falling to Bethlehem Catholic in their first game.

With a new season quickly approaching and new faces on the field, Allinson sees a lot of positives about his team entering the new fall season.

“One thing we will need to work on is our team defense will need to come together quickly,” said Allinson. “The newer players will need to step into their roles early and perform right away. We will need guys from top to bottom to perform at a high level for us to be successful and get to where we want to get to.”

Salisbury lost three key players to either graduation or transfer from last year’s squad. Nick Amado graduated and is now a student-athlete at East Stroudsburg University. Cam’ren Smith moved to South Carolina and Diego Severo transferred to Allen High School.

Allinson is excited to have back a couple of top returning players on last season’s team, including senior midfielder Noah Kichline (two goals, one assist), junior defender Jacob Knerr, junior forward Jack Monahan (seven goals, five assists) and sophomore forward Alejandro Zuniga Garcia (five goals, four assists). Freshman forward Christian Marinos is a top newcomer that Allinson expects to make an immediate impact.

“I think our team attitude and offensive capabilities are something of a strength to the team,” Allinson said. “One of the areas we may struggle in is our depth. We don’t necessarily have the numbers that we normally have had in the past. But the guys are competing hard.”