Centreville — To the Editor:
Let me start off by saying that this “letter to the editor” is not a complaint, and was written merely to serve notice of an oversight that, after pondering it over for a few days, I couldn’t just let slip by.
First off, I want to make sure that this in no way takes away from the accomplishments of the 2014 Centreville Wildcats Boys’ Soccer team, and in fact I couldn’t be happier for Coach Lee, their outstanding players, and the success they have brought back to the program. I hope this is the start of a long run of successful campaigns and that a conference banner is in their near future.
The reason for reaching out to you is the first paragraph of the sports article in the May 22-28, 2014 edition of the Centre View titled “Centreville Boys’ Soccer Earns Top Seed in Conference 5.” In that paragraph you make mention that their Conference 5 regular season title and their top seeding in the tournament is a first in over two decades. Unfortunately this statement isn’t true and, in making it, let the accomplishments of another amazing group of boys’ soccer athletes at Centreville High school go unrecognized. I write this because many of the players on the 2002 Centreville High School team still live in the area, and I’m sure quite a few of them along with their parents read the Centre View and would love to have their season remembered.
To the best of my knowledge the 2002 Centreville Boys’ soccer team is still the best to ever step on the field there (too bad we didn’t have that amazing turf back then).
Led by Washington Post All-Met Players Kyle Hansen (midfield) and Adam Jelinek (goal keeper), the Wildcats actually ran the table in the Concorde District that year going 6-0 and captured the regular season Concorde District Title for the first time in school history. They ended up with the top seed in the district tournament eventually losing to Chantilly in PKs, and then falling in overtime to Yorktown in the regional quarterfinal on a PK in sudden death overtime. In addition to Hansen and Jelinek, 1st team all-district players Jimmy Stevens (forward) and Matt Holland (defender) and 2nd team all-district players, Phil Noakes, Sam Hamzehpoor, and Carlos Hernandez, helped the team to a 12-5-1 overall record and at one point a #3 ranking in the Washington Post and a final ranking of #4 in the June 14 paper. There may be an article or two about the team in the 2002 Centre View papers and there were some in the Fairfax Journal for sure.
Anyway, I appreciate you taking the time to read this letter, and again I want to reiterate its purpose is to recognize an incredible group of boys that still take pride in having the best season in their school history.
Matt Kiefaber