BERNE — The Berne-Knox-Westerlo boys’ soccer team is rebuilding this fall.

The Bulldogs lost 12 seniors. The graduates are being replaced by seven sophomores who played on the modified team last year. The players moved from the seventh-to-ninth-grade level up to the varsity because BKW does not have a junior-varsity team due to lack of numbers.
"We’ve got two of our best players hurt and we have seven sophomores," said BKW Coach Jim Gillis. "We are going to struggle. I think, by the end, this could be a good team. But this isn’t modified. It’s a big jump to the varsity. The pace of the game is different."

BKW lost returners Bobby Patrick and Brandon Motschmann to injuries; both players are hoping to return before the start of the season. One is out with a broken shoulder and the other broke bones in his face.
"We’ve got to get them healthy," Gillis said.

Motschmann is one of six seniors on the squad along with Aaron Moseby, Evan Place, Peter Primiano, Ian Smith, and Pius Gakure.

Patrick is one of five juniors with Nick Cross, Alan Diamond, Sam Emory, and Jason Villeneuve.

The sophomores are Ben Burton, Joey Conklin, Keith Cunningham, Matt Lounsbury, Greg Mulson, Sean Picinich, and Josh Skinner.

"Learning process"
"As a modified team they dominated at that level," Gillis said. "Now they’re up at this level and they are getting dominated. It’ll take time. It’s going to be a learning process. They just can’t make the same mistakes over and over again. That’s why you scrimmage."

Gillis’s words came after the Bulldogs struggled in a scrimmage Tuesday against Greenville.

A lot of the new varsity players got thrown into the fire at the scrimmage.
"Ben Burton did pretty well and I put in Greg Mulson at stopper," Gillis said. "He hadn’t done it at that level. Josh Skinner did well up front. Hopefully, we’ll get better."

Gillis said that they have some speed up front with Primiano, but goals will still be hard to come by.
"We’ll struggle to score goals," he said on Tuesday. "After today, it looks like we’ll struggle to keep the ball out of the back of the net."

The Bulldogs were green in two key defensive positions.
"We had a player playing his first time at sweeper," Gillis said. "We had had Sean Wolfe back there for two years. We also had someone playing his first time at stopper and that’s because of the injury to Bobby Patrick."

Gillis added that hard work will be a factor this season.
"It allows you to stay in games," the coach said. "We have to keep working and get to the ball and let them know that we are going to work to get the ball. We are not going to dazzle people with our footwork skills."

Gillis hopes that his team gets the work ethic and sticks with the team, as there could be some rewards at the end of the season.
"We have to be patient," he said. "I hope they don’t get discouraged and I hope the seniors don’t get discouraged and keep working."

The Bulldogs open the season on Wednesday at Schenecatdy Christian. BKW then plays on Friday and Saturday at the Fort Plain Tournament before its first home game against Canajoharie on Monday.