It’s been a long road to get the Valley Central boys’ soccer team onto the field and Saturday morning was the Vikings’ second day on grass.

The fields weren’t ready when the practice started on March 1 due to the February snow and then the team had to quarantine due to COVID-19 protocols for 10 days, causing four games to be wiped off the schedule.

They finally got on the field last Thursday, battling the Washingtonville Wizards to a 2-2- tie, and then suffered a 4-0 loss to Newburgh Free Academy on Saturday morning.

“We’ve only been outside for one practice on the field,” Valley Central coach Paul Berkowitz said. “So, I think it wasn’t that bad. We had two defensive breakdowns and the other two were quality goals by Newburgh.”

The Goldbacks kept the Vikings’ defense busy, and three goalkeepers combined for 12 saves. Junior keeper Brennan Donachie made three saves and freshman goalkeeper Maddox Rivera made eight saves. Junior goalkeeper Gavin Starr made one save.

“He wasn’t even the first of the goalies in there,” Berkowitz said. “In that first 15 minutes, Brennan Donachie came up with a huge save on a point plank shot. You really can’t say the goals were mistakes on the keepers’ part, especially Maddox. He was huge and he’s only a freshman. He’s going to be a special keeper.”

The Vikings had few solid opportunities to score. One came about halfway through the first half, but Christopher Reyes’ header went over the goal. They had another opportunity on a corner kick with about 15 minutes to go, but Jeffrey Smith’s shot went over the goal.

“We’ve improved offensively from the last game,” Berkowitz said. “As far as I what I was looking for, I was looking for improvement in the tactical sense. But they’re just such a great group of kids, I hope they leave every game with some sense of enjoyment.”

Soccer, normally played in the fall, was postponed to this March and April “Fall 2” season by Section 9 in September.

However, as the snow fell in February and seeing the success Section 1 enjoyed in the fall, Berkowitz always believed there would be a season.

“With that in mind, I really thought we were going to have as season and just kept encouraging all the kids to get ready because we’re going to hit the ground running. So, thankfully, our school’s been real good about it because there are some schools that elected to not even have it.”

The players know it can all end in a heartbeat, due to the ongoing pandemic.

“They’re just happy they’re playing,” Berkowitz said. “The seniors are pretty mindful that this is their last year of playing and some of them might not play in college. I think they are mindful in there, knowing to take advantage of every game because anyone can be quarantined at any second.”