Athlete of the Week – Thomas Cosgrove

PC senior and varsity soccer player Thomas Cosgrove has been named Jersey Mike’s Athlete of the Week. Thomas shares his answers to AD Lyslo’s Q+A below.

Thomas, congratulations on being named PC athlete of the week. You and your team have really surprised a lot of people with how well you guys have played for how young your group is. How do you feel about the season so far?

Thank you. I think that our season has gone very well considering how young our team is. We have proven a lot of people wrong and I think we really kind of surprised ourselves with how connected we are as a team.

Coming into the season, you hadn’t played soccer in a while. What changed your mind to come out for soccer and have you enjoyed the experience so far this season?

One of the main reasons I went out to play soccer was because my little brother is playing soccer, and it is the only high school sport that me and him both play. So that’s why I decided to play this year. I have really enjoyed my time playing with the guys and spending time with all of them and it has overall been a great experience.

You have become one of the top defenders in the league this year as your team has allowed some of the lowest goal numbers of any team in the state. How much pride do you guys take in being one of the best back-lines, knowing this can carry you in the postseason?

Our back line takes a lot of pride in our job keeping the ball out of our net. One of the main reasons our back line is allowing one of the lowest amount of goals is our chemistry. The four of us in the back are very connected throughout the game keeping the ball out of the net. Coach Anchetta being a defensive minded coach helps our team focus on not diving in and staying in front. 

Besides yourself, who has surprised you the most on the team as far as development, improvement and just overall play?

I think one of the guys who’s had the biggest improvement throughout the season is Moses. Last year he was coming off the bench, now he’s playing all 80 minutes, locking down the right side. I’ve seen improvement every single game from Moses which is one of the reasons why our backline is so locked down. 

In looking ahead, you have a big game at Trout Lake where ranking and seeding are really important for the post-season. Is the one game at a time mentality in play or are you looking ahead to the postseason?

Yes, in every sport you have to have a one game at a time mindset no matter who you’re playing and how good they are. This game is very important so we need to lock in and focus up because we want the best possible seeding for the state tournament.

So if you had to look two weeks ahead from today, you are in the postseason, which is the very first time that 2A has offered a state championship opportunity to schools. What would be a perfect scenario for you and your team and what will it take to accomplish this?

The perfect scenario for us is getting a win at Trout Lake and getting seeded inside the top 6 getting a first round bye, then winning that game to go onto the state semifinals. To accomplish this goal we will have to be solid all the way around throughout the team, and keep focused every game and every practice to get what we want done.