Podcast: Owen Finberg on his final year at South Kent, program success

South Kent head coach Owen Finberg huddles with his team. (South Kent)

The latest guest on New England Soccer Journal’s “The Goal” podcast is South Kent boys soccer head coach Owen Finberg.

Finberg led the Cardinals to an 18-0-1 record in the 2022 season and a ranking of No. 2 in the NESJ’s final Top 10 power rankings of the season. The team, however, was ineligible for the NEPSAC playoffs, due to an offseason violation, meaning they were unable to defend their Class B championship from 2021. 

This was Finberg’s final season at South Kent as he will be leaving the school in the spring. He arrived in 2004 and led the program to 10 New England championships, turning the Cardinals into a national powerhouse in the process. 

Finberg joined host Matt Langone to discuss his final year at South Kent and how the program has grown over the past 19 seasons.

The full podcast can be accessed below and is available on all major platforms. If you enjoy it, please leave a rating and a review.

Here are some highlights from our discussion with Finberg:

On the success of the 2022 season:

Finberg: “I think we had a wonderful group of guys. Most importantly, really a pleasure to work with from the beginning right through the Thanksgiving break. We had a great campaign. We challenged ourselves with the best teams that would play us. We traveled far and wide and down, back and forth to Pennsylvania a few times, and to a couple big events. I’m really happy with the way that things turned out for us. We were a mysterious penalty call and a last-minute goal against Loomis (Chaffee) away from being unblemished. But that’s football and, all in all, a really great season for these guys and certainly proud of everything that they were able to do on the field.”

On playing with the knowledge that the team was ineligible for the playoffs:

Finberg: “I think that that was something that we expected, understood — not the most important thing for this group of players. It’s living into our core values every day, and that’s developing on and off the field, striving for excellence in everything we do, and representing this program and school with class. I think those guys, as I said, were a joy to work with on a daily basis, because that’s what they set out to do. We had the opportunity to play for the national championship, which we were fortunate enough to claim a share of. With the season that we had, these guys are all moving on to bigger and better things from here, whether that be in the classroom or on the field, and moving on to play college soccer, and certainly some of them beyond that as well.”

On preparing players for the college game:

Finberg: “I think one thing that’s important to note at the start of that answer is this will be our 15th year where every single guy that’s a part of our program and graduating has an opportunity to play college soccer. We haven’t placed everybody yet this year, but from the guys that we have that are graduating, either seniors or post grads, I feel very confident that they will have that opportunity as well. … Part of that is obviously the recruiting process. We’re bringing in good quality student-athletes. To play college soccer now, even at the Division 3 level, you have to be a quality player. You have to be recruited. Long gone are the days of the walk-ons.”

On the vision when he took over at South Kent:

Finberg: “The vision is still my vision, and that’s to positively impact young people’s lives through the game of soccer and teaching them characteristics and values that they ingrain in their lives that they can carry on to be successful in whatever they do. All the success we have is a byproduct of that. It’s about guys going about things in the right way, again, on and off the field. When you do those things, when you have a routine, when you hold yourself to a high standard, then you know it’s proven again and again that you can be successful in anything that you do.”

On the emotions of this being his final season at South Kent:

Finberg: “I think there’s a lot of people that still don’t have an understanding, especially when you talk about the professional landscape, that we’re all humans. Like, people think that you’re out there and you just do the job and it’s not the way it works. Everyone has things going on in their lives. It was definitely emotional. There were some very emotional moments. There’s some times that were difficult. My motivation, first and foremost, is for the guys that come here to play for me and to be a part of this program and to carry on the tradition of excellence that we’ve built. And, through all that, that was what I tried to tune into from the moment I woke up in the morning, and just try and give the guys the experience that they came here for and to help them.”

The Goal” podcast is brought to you by the New England Revolution and Soccerheads New England.

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