Newbury’s German Canales. Photo by Noelle Sass
By Joshua Kummins
Members of the Newbury College men’s soccer team like to refer to each other as brothers.
“We say ‘11 equals one,’ which basically means that everybody on the field and everybody on the bench, in practices and games, we’re all brothers,” said Lynn’s Angel Canales, a junior defender/midfielder for the Nighthawks.
It’s a common word used in sports, but teams with brothers ― brothers by blood, that is ― can often take on a special dynamic.
Such is the case on Newbury’s small Brookline campus and, since the Nighthawks have no true home field, on fields across Massachusetts, where Canales and senior brother German are playing together for one final season.
It is a special dynamic, and one that head coach Bill Maddock noticed right away in his first season on the job.
“It’s been fun having brothers on the team, but it’s something I’m actually used to and I like,” said Maddock, who played soccer alongside his brother at Newbury before graduating in 2009. “They do typical ‘brotherly love,’ but they’re very professional when they’re at practice. It’s been a joy to coach them both.”
Angel had offers to attend other New England Collegiate Conference (NECC) schools, but his brother convinced him to join him at Newbury. The Nighthawks, who are currently 5-3-1 this season, have played for a conference championship in two of Angel’s first three seasons.
One goal they haven’t checked off yet is winning a title. Last year, Daniel Webster took home the title with a 1-0 victory over the Nighthawks.
“We’re definitely trying to improve and see if we can make it back to the finals this year, and win it,” Angel said. “I definitely think it’s something we can do.
“The upperclassmen and everyone who was here last year definitely has that flavor still (from last year’s loss). Once we get into conference, we want to go undefeated, win our conference and make it to the NCAA Tournament this year.”
German has started all but one of Newbury’s first 10 games and scored his second goal of the season off the bench in a 3-1 win over Emerson last Wednesday.
Angel registered an assist in a 5-2 win over Becker that lifted the Nighthawks to a 6-3-1 record on the season. He also scored in the Nighthawks’ Sept. 4 win at Johnson State, on his first of just two shot attempts on the season thus far.
As the statistics note, both brothers have contributed to the team’s early-season success, but in different ways.
“German is a returning First Team All-Conference guy who plays the middle of the field for us, and Angel is more of a role guy who we mix around and play different positions,” Maddock said. “Right now, German obviously gets a little more playing time, but that’s going to be changing going forward. As we get into conference, we’re going to be relying on both of them and their experience.”
German scored three goals and 12 points en route to earning All-NECC honors a season ago, but he’s already seen an improvement to his game and his team’s collective effort that his new coach has emphasized early on.
“I didn’t shoot as much last year and that’s one of the things Coach Maddock told me to do,” German said. “We’re communicating as a team, so that’s why we’re doing better than we did last year.”
While Angel has taken a lesser role early in this season, he’s just enjoying one final go with his older brother.
This season has brought back memories to his days at Lynn Classical, where he won three Northeastern Conference titles and formed a close team while playing alongside German and another set of brothers.
“We had me and German together in the midfield, and we also had Javier and Salvador Castro,” Angel said. “We were a really close-knit group. Playing with German through all these years, we still connect really well. … There were other schools I could have gone to, but I feel like I ended up in the right place here with German.”
— Names and Notes —
- Peabody’s Nick Bona made nine tackles to pace the Stonehill College defense in a 45-34 win over St. Anselm. The Bishop Fenwick grad is tied for fourth in the Northeast-10 Conference and leads the Skyhawks with 20 solo tackles in just four games this season after adding four to that total on Saturday.
- Peabody’s Doug Santos rushed for 90 yards on 14 carries and scored his first collegiate touchdown in the second quarter as the Assumption College football team coasted to a 55-23 Saturday victory over rival Merrimack in North Andover.
- Peabody native Hayley Dowd scored her sixth goal of the season in the Boston College women’s soccer team’s win over Pitt last Thursday. Dowd’s header off a free kick less than five minutes into the contest turned out to decide the game in the eventual 3-0 decision.
- Lynn native Katie Burt made 22 saves in the Boston College women’s hockey team’s 3-2 exhibition loss to the National Women’s Hockey League’s Boston Pride on Thursday. The Eagles are the preseason favorite to repeat as Hockey East champions and enter Friday’s season opener at Minnesota Duluth as the No. 3 team in the nation.
Joshua Kummins can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.