Chris Zalasky earns the title of Most Winning Soccer Coach in Hamburg Area High School history.
Zalasky is a proud teacher at Hamburg Area School District. He has been teaching for 14 years in Tilden Elementary. With 12 years in fourth grade and two years in fifth, he looks forward to continuing his career in this district.
Not only is Zalasky a teacher, but he is also a coach and he has been coaching in the district combined for 13 years. He started out as a middle school assistant coach, and he moved up progressively through head coach, junior varsity coach for high school, and now varsity head coach for eight years and counting. Zalasky is a very honorable and strong coach at Hamburg, with 76 wins, a new school record for soccer wins. He has 78 wins, counting districts.
Zalasky loved his team this year. He said they were a group of fantastic young men.
“They worked hard, got along with each other, and were very coach-able.”
He explained how they never gave up and worked hard throughout the season. During offseason is a huge reason why the boy’s soccer team always comes on top with success. Almost all players participate in winter, spring, and summer leagues.
Zalasky thanks all of the players and, of course, all of the coaches, Coach Curry, Coach Bechtel, and Coach Miller, for the wonderful season.
This year’s season was a very good season for the boys. There were many great moments, but Zalasky stressed the importance of the first district win against Boiling Springs. It has been 24 years since the last district win. The team has also been to districts three times out of the past four years, with this year as the first win. In this game, senior Jeremiah Justiniano got the goal to win the game, 1-0, and this is his second varsity goal, out of two goals total ever.
Zalasky feels like the team always rose to the occasion. The team won 10 games this season by one goal. The soccer team was known to go into overtime at games. He mentioned the games against Fleetwood and Exeter should have been played better, but they are elite teams.
There were not any players to deserve all the credit, for the team was all great. Everyone worked together as a whole and he could not single anyone out.
Zalasky wants to give credit to the four senior starters though, Logan Adams (goalie), Zach Loeb (forward), Nate Parent (midfield), and Zach Lugo (defense), for stepping up.
“They were the core of the team. I can’t give them enough credit.”
The bar has been raised high for the following years for the soccer team. Now that they moved on to districts, the next goal is counties. The coaches cannot wait to see what next year has in store.
Haley Bylina is a sophomore at Hamburg High School.
