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O'Neill, LoCoco the men in the middle for Fishermen

Thursday, October, 25 By Rich Slate
Staff writer

In soccer, goalies and forwards usually get the biggest share of the glory. They make the timely saves and score the goals, and thus tend to get noticed the most.

The real thankless work, however, is done by the midfielders.

Those particular players are the ones in constant motion, shuttling back and forth from the defensive end and jumping up on offensive possessions. It's certainly not a position for everybody; the most skilled ones can even pop a goal or send through balls to the strikers.

The Gloucester boys soccer team is extremely lucky to have not just one, but two such top-notch midfielders.

Fishermen (11-3-2, 11-2-2) seniors Nick LoCoco and Shane O'Neill are the top two scorers in the Northeastern Conference South. The two teammates have helped lead their second straight Northeastern Conference South title.

"Shane has gotten more attention over the years. He led the team in scoring last year and represented Massachusetts on a traveling team in Dallas," said third-year Gloucester head coach James Cook.

"Nick is a quieter player, more skillful on the ball. He's really stepped up and taken over a lot of the scoring responsibility on the team when Shane was out with calf and ankle injuries earlier this season."

LoCoco and O'Neill are great friends off the field; they've known each other from youth soccer and started going to school together at O'Malley Middle School. It's clear that close relationship carries over to games, as the pair has an instinctual feel for where the other is located.

"We played on the same club teams, town soccer and indoor leagues," noted O'Neill. "We even went to the Mass. Tournament of Champions as U-14 players."

Competing together so much also means that they know each other's games inside out.

Said LoCoco about O'Neill, "He's one of the strongest on the ball in the whole NEC and the hardest player to get the ball from. We can work off of him. When people need to get picked up, he can pick up the slack."

Talking about LoCoco, O'Neill admitted, "He's got quick feet and he's better at taking people 1-on-1. He's a good target player, too. It's a weight off my shoulders (that) he can distribute."

Both players have been a staple of Gloucester's program for the last four years. Not coincidently, the team won its first NEC title in 33 years last season.

This fall, O'Neill and LoCoco are co-captains along with senior Luke Cosgrove and junior Alex Trotsky. The Fishermen made it to the Division 2 North state quarterfinals two years ago before falling to powerful Medford. Last season, Gloucester lost in the first round to Framingham, 1-0 in overtime at Newell Stadium.

This time around, O'Neill and LoCoco hope to end their senior years on a higher note.

"I know from last year it was all about our first conference title," LoCoco said. "This year we're trying to do better. We're not going to stop after the title | we want a good run in the state tournament."

"It definitely hurt. It was disappointing to have it end like that," remembered O'Neill. "We looked too far down the road."

Regardless of how Gloucester fares in the postseason, one rival coach couldn't help recently but exclaim his excitement over not having to face the pair anymore.

"O'Neill is such a strong presence; he's a hell of a player. Same with LoCoco," Marblehead head coach Steve Ingemi said after his team's 3-2 upset of Gloucester on Monday.

"I'm glad to be done with them. I'm so happy that they're in a different division and I don't have to see them in the tournament (Marblehead plays in Div. 3 North). They've had great careers, but I'm glad they're graduating."

Outside of Gloucester High, Nick plays for the Aztecs (a local club team) while Shane was on North Shore United, but will soon transfer to the Aztecs.

Cook lauded the pair for their constant attention to detail. "They stay after practice a lot and work on different things. They truly live soccer year-round," he said.

Both players have attracted interest from Division 1, 2 and 3 colleges as they look to continue their careers at the next level. LoCoco is most interested in Merrimack and Bryant, while O'Neill likes Franklin Pierce and Southern Connecticut State. He's also considering Quinnipiac and Lafayette ("they have strong sports medicine programs," he said).

They're still around for a few more games, but Cook doesn't want to start thinking about life without his two star midfielders.

"They give me freedom because of their versatility, understanding with each other and the game," said Cook. "We're going to miss them tremendously.

"In the back of my head, I do look at the younger guys and wonder, 'Who will step up?' We graduated 12 guys from last year's team, so Shane and Nick took on so much responsibility."