Wahconah's Boino Commits to UMass Soccer Program
DALTON, Mass. -- Fans of the Wahconah High School boys soccer team have been enjoying senior Kevin Boino's talents for years.
Next year, they can continue to do so, without traveling very far at all.
Boino this weekend decided to attend the University of Massachusetts and play Division I soccer for the Minutemen and coach Devin O'Neill.
Boino caught the eye of O’Neill and his coaching staff through his play for the Ludlow Pioneers club team. He’s been playing with them for the past seven years.
“We went to a couple of tournaments that he [O’Neill] was at,” Boino said. “After seeing me play with the Pioneers he began to contact me during my junior year.”
O’Neill has also made his way to see Boino play with Wahconah. He made it out to a home game this season and attended Wahconah's Western Massachusetts Division 3 quarter-final game last week against Belchertown.
Aside from UMass, Boino also was looking at DII New Haven and DIII Wentworth Institute of Technology, but his decision became final after spending this past weekend with one of the UMass soccer players.
“I’ve visited with one of my friends from town that goes there and he showed me the ropes of just being a student there,” Boino said. “Then this past weekend I stayed over with one of the soccer players and he showed me both sides of it and that it’s very manageable to play DI soccer and balance school work.”
Boino, who plans on majoring in chemical engineering, has no fear that soccer will get in the way. He talked about how the soccer team has an advisor who helps you stay on track with your school work when they’re traveling for games, making sure the student-athletes get the work they missed and make it up in time for when it is due.
The future Division I athlete also plays basketball and runs track for Wahconah, and he still intends to do both this winter and spring. He will finish his high school sports career and start preparing himself for tryouts this summer. He said that his coach will be giving him a packet of what he should be working on to prepare himself for Aug. 13.
“It’s very relieving and I’m very excited,” Boino said about his commitment. “I feel much, much less stress than I did a few weeks ago.”
Boino received a partial scholarship from UMass, and he will be signing his national letter of intent this winter. According to the NCAA website, the first day for signing a National Letter of Intent for soccer student-athletes is Feb. 4.