Podcast: Milton Academy’s Chris Kane on the journey to a Class A championship

Milton Academy coach Chris Kane gives his players instructions before a match. (Evan Scales/New England Soccer Journal)

The latest guest on New England Soccer Journal’s “The Goal” podcast is Milton Academy boys soccer head coach Chris Kane.

Kane guided Milton to the 2023 NEPSAC Class A championship, as the Mustangs defeated Taft, 2-0, in the final on Nov. 19 at Suffield Academy. Milton, which also won the Independent School League championship, finished the season with a record of 19-1-2 and captured the program’s first Class A crown since 2015.

Kane joined host Matt Langone to discuss winning the title and why this season became a special one for the Mustangs.

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 Kane:

On the achievement as a whole:

Kane: “There’s a lot of appreciation for the growth and work of our kids, and I think certainly the feeling now is one of a job well done. But, really, a lot of pride in the work that the kids have put in to grow as a group over the course of the season. I think this was one of the deepest tournaments I’ve seen, one of the most evenly balanced tournaments I’ve seen. I think any of the teams in it had a chance to win it. So, certainly I think the competitiveness parity and I think the overall quality of New England soccer was really on display.”

On the team’s mindset entering the season after losing in the 2022 Class A final in a penalty kick shootout:

Kane: “I don’t think there was a real sense of redemption. But I do think, in our program, we really believe in challenge leading to growth. I think to have the opportunity to have a challenge of ending a final against a great team, I think it’s one you’re going to grow through, and I think grow in terms of confidence and understanding. We view that certainly as something we grew from.”

On winning three games in five days to capture the Class A championship:

Kane: “I think for us to go through three quality games that were competitive spectacles and really sportsmanlike, I think that’s awesome. Certainly for us, we like the challenge. I think we — Milton kids — know that they have to work hard as students here and that’s a challenge that we bring to them in the program, day-to-day, in terms of the level that we set. But when you go through the class, they know in the tournament you’re going to see challenging teams, and I think that’s only going to continue to get more and more the case with the level of coaching and the quality of the coaches that we have in the league. We didn’t expect it to be easy, and I think we always prepare kids to do hard things.”

On how this championship compares to the one in 2015:

Kane: “I kind of think about them in a continuum in terms of growth, both in myself and in my leadership of the program. I think what I really like about where we are now is I think that as a sort of the leader of the program, I think I finally was able to really enjoy this season after we scored the second goal in the final, and I kind of took a deep breath and I was like, ‘okay.'”

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

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