PARTING SHOT: Hun School boys’ soccer player Patrick Nally, right, controls the ball in a game this season. Senior midfielder Nally ended his Hun career with a bang, notching a goal and an assist as the Raiders fell 5-2 to Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) in their finale. Hun ended the fall with a 5-13 record. (Photo by Frank Wojciechowski)

At times this fall, the Hun School boys’ soccer team displayed flashes of brilliance.

“Within the games, there were some moments, 10, 20 sometimes up to 40 minutes where we were playing really good soccer,” said Hun head coach Pat Quirk.

Unfortunately, those moments were interspersed with lapses as the team ended with a final record of 5-13.

“We had trouble playing complete games,” said Quirk. “We would have a good first half and struggle in the second half or we would struggle in the first half and then come out and have a really great second half. We had trouble putting it all together.”

In Quirk’s view, Hun’s 5-2 defeat by Mercersburg Academy (Pa.) in its season finale earlier this month was a microcosm of the fall.

“It was kind of the tale of our season a little bit; Logan Leppo was actually hurt,” said Quirk, referring to his senior star goalie.

“He had just hurt his shoulder two days before that game and we weren’t sure if he was going to play, he went out there and he could barely lift his arm, it was more of a ceremonial thing for our seniors. I was happy that Pat Nally got a goal and an assist to end his career. He was pushing forward from the center mid spot.”

While the record was disappointing, Hun pushed just about every one of its foes this fall.

“Maybe with a little luck and a couple of things going our way, we could have had a couple more wins,” said Quirk.

“There were one or two bad losses but everything else was kind of close. We had a good win against Princeton Day School (2-1 on October 13), we will remember that one.”

Quirk will remember the examples set by senior stalwarts Nally and Leppo.

“I hope guys are trying to fight to fill their shoes because they are leaders by example, hard workers,” said Quirk.

“They just get to work and don’t complain about anything. If we could just have guys whose goal is take over Patrick Nally’s role or Logan Leppo’s role on the team, then you have a pretty good team.”

Three of the team’s other seniors, Jake O’Dowd, Connor Hufer, and J.P. Sinuk, stood out with their work ethic.

“O’Dowd ended up having a concussion in the Blair game so he couldn’t play the remainder of the season; Hufer got injured at some point too, those guys all contributed to the team,” said Quirk.

“J.P. won the Rob Myslik Award for the team for everything he put into it. He came into the season, knowing that he probably wasn’t going to play. He stepped up and did great. He is into everything that he does; he is a kid that gives you 100 percent no matter what you are doing.”

Looking ahead, Quirk is hoping that his returning players will take some lessons from the ups and downs of the 2016 season.

“I hope they learn how to bounce back from adversity when things aren’t going your way,” said Quirk. “Hopefully it taught them some tools to turn it and continue to stay positive.”

The Raiders have the pieces in place to get things going in a positive direction.

“We had a new guy, Dylan Smith, who scored a bunch of goals for us; Michael Campbell as a junior played well so those two are leading the junior class,” said Quirk.

“We found a place for another junior, Jake Keller, at outside back. We have two sophomores, Elijah Smarr and James Muldowney, who both battled into starting roles or first guys off the bench this year. I am expecting those guys to be big contributors next season. Gibson Campbell and Owen Schinsky as center backs are going to grow and be tremendous for us.”