Photos: Zack Beavers
By: Jeremy Goode
PHILADELPHIA - In 2023, Barrack Hebrew Academy joined the Friends School League. The boys’ soccer team was outscored 83-3 in 10 FSL games. That comes out to giving up 8.3 goals per game to conference opponents, while only averaging .3 goals per game.
They finished the season 0-10, providing an easy win for anyone opposing them.
It was a tough welcome. After all, Barrack only has 200 students in the entire high school, so even just fielding a team could easily be a challenge.
This is not your 2023 Barrack soccer team. Quite the opposite.
Two years later, they are scoring goals. They are winning games. Their playbook is online. The players are eager to come to practice and train for two and a half hours a day. And probably most importantly, they found their coach.
The culture change has transformed the program for the better. Instead of traveling to schools knowing they would lose by several goals, the new mindset is they can beat anyone they face. And at the very least, even if they do not win, they compete at a high level.
Barrack continued their breakout season on Thurs., Oct. 10 against Abington Friends, as they took care of business and won 6-1 at home.
“We won one Friends League game last year and were the last team in the Quaker Cup,” Barrack co-captain Ari Jaffe said. “Now, we are going into the postseason Quaker Cup as the two-seed with a positive goal differential, when last year, we were down 20 goals.”
Barrack Hebrew Academy vs. Abington Friends Game Highlights by Jeremy Goode:
That’s the thing. This is a new Barrack team. It was not just their inaugural year in the FSL that was challenging. Last year was too, in terms of competing, culture, and togetherness.
Under first year head coach Dave Brown, everything about boys’ soccer at Barrack has changed- for the better. After Oct. 7 2023, Brown wanted to connect more with his Jewish roots. He did not know exactly how to do that but eventually ended up being the assistant boys’ soccer coach at Barrack.
Brown signed on to be the assistant coach in the summer. Weeks before the season, he became the head coach after a sudden departure from the previous head coach. With that in mind, it is even more remarkable how the program not only did not lose a beat but has gone on a run for the first time in the FSL.
How have things changed for Barrack to the point where they are 9-3 on the season, having beaten Abington Friends for the second time while also beating league rival Friends Select?
Structure, communication, and togetherness.
If you do not get to the field 45 minutes before a match, you will not start. Before, athletes would ridicule teammates if they made a mistake on the field. Brown put a stop to that. He also implemented the Spanish Method he learned in Spain before arriving at Barrack. This method emphasizes implementing different passing options, field technique in positioning and moving up and down, and communication.
Barrack Goal off Corner Kick
Cody Sands Penalty Kick Goal
Brown has also been able to implement his Virtual Futbol Academy program with the team, which has been an additional factor in strengthening the team on the field and getting favorable results.
“It’s an online educational platform portal for players and coaches,” Brown said. Essentially, it is online course work to help train and improve coaches and players.
The program is being applied at Barrack; that was Brown’s one request in taking the job. And it is working.
Barrack saw it Brown’s culture shift begin to work early on against Abington Friends. They scored two goals in less than 12 minutes. Freshman Cody Sands scored a penalty kick to double Barrack’s lead. Jacob Reifsnyder played well between the goal posts for Barrack, cleaning up everything around him.
Jaffe, who had a front row seat to last year’s struggles, was pleased with his team’s performance.
“Our dominance was just outstanding,” Jaffe said. “In the midfield, we won almost every ball. The shots we fired on their goalie… we passed around them the whole time. They did not have the ball for much of the game and I think that was our biggest advantage.”
If you do not have the ball, you cannot score, a strategy that worked both ways for Barrack.
Offense came easily for Barrack against Abington Friends. They held possession for most of the game, they got a lot of shots on net, they threatened on their opponent’s side of the field for most of the game, and they buried several goals.
In the second half, Barrack found its offensive groove, scoring four more times throughout the final 40 minutes. Itai Aharoni and Micah Friedman both scored two goals in the second half, as one of Friedman’s goals came off a corner. This was Barrack’s first set goal all year, according to Brown.
“I think we all kind of realized that we have the ability to compete,” Jaffe said. “And we should be competing and holding everyone accountable if we really want to start winning games.”
So far for this season, it has worked.
Barrack Hebrew Academy vs. Abington Friends - PSD Photos by Zack Beavers
With the way the FSL is constructed, there are two pods. Barrack is positioning itself to earn the final playoff spot, a goal that may have seemed distant several months ago but is quite realistic in early October.
It is more about the winning for Barrack. Sure, winning is nice and validates the program. As Brown said, “no one can take that away from you if you win.”
He’s right.
But Brown and his players also acknowledged it is about the journey. It is about improving and getting better over time.
Barrack has seen that firsthand. They do not take anything for granted. They’ve been through the hard part. And they look to continue the wave of growth and development, just three years in a new league.
“We’re finally able to go out, have fun, laugh with each other, and know that we are not just going to walk into a game and lose 15-0,” Jaffe said.