The crunch of leaves on the ground mixes with the smack of soccer balls as Cambridge Rindge and Latin School players run shooting drills. Their breath hangs in the cold air, and they are still practicing in mid-fall, signs that playoff season has arrived.
The Falcons clinched a playoff spot with a 10-3-3 record, a leap from last year’s 5-9-4 finish. They are ranked ninth in the state in Division I, the largest high schools.
The players credit the team’s success is a testament to their chemistry and growth, built through connections on and off the field. “This year, the team has never been more connected,” said senior captain Giacomo Zambotti, 17.
To build up stamina for their upcoming season, they put a heavy emphasis on team bonding. “It really just started at preseason,” said senior Andre Baraglia, 17. “We would go jogging with the team, building connections with the players.”
The team had four freshmen, a record – in years past it usually had one or two. With young players on a competitive team, the varsity veterans make an effort to make the players feel comfortable. “I don’t feel out of place,” said freshman Leo Davis,14. “The team takes really good care of all the freshmen.”
Davis said senior captain Rhys Brown, 17, has been a role model both on and off the field.
Head coach and former CRLS player Niko Emack, 29, leads a staff of five assistant coaches, four of whom are Cambridge Rindge and Latin alumni. For Emack, the team’s impact goes beyond the field. (Disclosure: Emack is on the board of Cambridge Day.)
He said its success has brought pride and unity not only to the players but to the city. While Cambridge is considered a wealthy community, he said, many players come from families that struggle financially and often go overlooked.
“The diversity that we bring to the field, the different playing styles and backgrounds, racially, socioeconomically, religiously, we see right here on the field,” Emack said. “It’s a statement about who we are as a city school.”
The talent gaps on the team are so minimal that each of the nearly two dozen players has been getting minutes on the field, Emack said.
“The players know that they can’t get complacent,” he said. “Everyone has to stay sharp, and give effort and because of that I think it’s created a healthier team dynamic.”
Goalkeeper coach Noah Wallace, 23, said the players’ passion was on full display during senior night, where Zambotti tied the game against Newton North in the final five minutes after the Falcons trailed for most of the match. “Electric all around,” Wallace said.
The team will find out its first playoff opponent at 1 p.m. Saturday, when the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association releases the bracket.
Emack doesn’t care who they play or what the outcome is.
“If we lose, if we tie, if things don’t go our way, and we work hard – I think we’ve built a strong team that we can live with those results if we know we give 110%,” Emack said.
This post was updated Nov. 1, 2025, to correct that Falcons boys’ soccer has a 10-3-3 record.
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