Monomoy Boys Soccer ‘Turning The Corner’ As Roster, Depth Build Up

HARWICH – The move was something Monomoy junior Chris Shea had seen on TikTok.

For penalty shots, he used to just step back and run straight at the dot. 

Last Thursday, for a penalty kick against Sandwich, Shea approached the ball with a deceptive stutter, an almost-theatric drag of his left foot, then stepped and, all business-like, grounded the penalty shot past the right post to put the Sharks up 2-0. 

He had a video clip of Barcelona superstar Lamine Yamal to credit for the idea.

Later during the second half, Shea would add another to put the game totally out of reach for the visitors. The 3-0 win was Monomoy’s second in a row after an 0-4 start, as the team battled with injury and illness. But the wins showed what the Sharks (2-4-1) could do upon returning to complete strength.

“When we have our full team, I feel like we could beat anyone,” Shea said. “I mean, it's just the mindset, so we're just waiting on a couple of our players to return. But right now, it’s just holding down the fort. Just playing hard and try and get the win.”

Due to players being out at the beginning of the year, the team knew they might struggle, according to head coach Keith Clark. They didn’t feel like they had a ton of depth. Yet having to endure that stretch of missing key contributors in turn actually helped to create some added depth as a result of giving other players in-game experience.

After the two wins, Monomoy played to a scoreless draw at Nauset on Monday (which continued an unbeaten streak against the Warriors dating to last year, following a run of consecutive losses to the nearby rivals over a decade). 

“Now we're turning the corner a little bit, I think, with both the quality of our play and getting some players back,” Clark said.

The Sharks earned their first win of the year with a 2-0 victory at Mashpee on Sept. 21. Shea scored twice, kicking off a flurry of individual scoring that continued into the match against Sandwich. 

“[Shea] has really stepped up,” Clark said. “I mean, he's really quick and clever on the ball.”

The Sandwich tilt also happened to be the first appearance of the year for senior Tate Laramee, a Cape and Islands League MVP.

With Laramee back in the fold joining Shea, the Sharks have their strongest two-man combination on the pitch — a true dynamic shifter.

“The squad seems back together,” Clark said. “All along though, the kids have been positive. It's a very good culture. [Laramee is] a great leader, so they were all in, and that's key.”

Against Sandwich, senior Alique Brown put the Sharks ahead halfway through the first half with his first goal of the season. He tracked down a ball from Monomoy’s end and, with a flick from outside the box around one defender, rifled a shot into the net.

Brown played soccer at Monomoy in eighth grade, took a hiatus and is back for senior year, according to Clark. Even so, his impact on the front line — as the Sharks rotate a number of players at the striker position — was noticeable. 

“He brings a lot of joy,” Clark said. “He's fun. He's a really strong personality.”

Clark has had teams in the past who could defeat opponents on the back of their technical and tactical superiority. This year’s squad is “more of a grinding team,” Clark said — though that doesn’t mean he isn’t optimistic, even within a testing Cape and Islands League slate.

Such an identity has shown through during the three-game streak to rebound from the difficult opening stretch. The Sharks haven’t conceded a goal since Sept. 18 (as of The Chronicle’s Tuesday deadline; Monomoy visited Dennis-Yarmouth on Wednesday), a huge turnaround from the results they were seeing at the outset — a testament to players like junior goalkeeper Tyler Layton, junior Jacob Gould, senior Ben Hager and sophomore Kaleb Meyer.

“It's coming around,” Clark said. “I knew it would, but I knew that we were going to struggle early on, and then the struggles get worse with injuries, and it seems like we've turned that corner a little bit.”

Monomoy’s performance in recent games demonstrated the team has more young player depth than previously believed. That particular development neatly aligns with a broader trend for the program: They essentially have more players this year than ever before.

This marks the first season — in Clark’s 14 years at Monomoy — the program has operated a freshman team. In Clark’s first year, the Sharks at times couldn’t fill out a full starting 11 on the junior varsity team (They’d have to send 10 to the JV game just to be able to have a pair of subs available at the varsity game).

“The numbers are here, and the success is here, so I think that it's drawn kids in,” said Clark, who also credited Monomoy Youth Soccer with the increased interest.

Monomoy opened as No. 15 in Division 4 after the MIAA’s release of the first set of power rankings for the 2026 fall season Tuesday. Per those metrics, they’ve had the third-hardest schedule among the division’s 73 teams.

“I just feel like we stepped up our game by doing the hard work,” Shea said. “I feel like that's what this team's about.”