Victoria Alarcon
Sports & Health Editor
The spotlight rarely falls on soccer goalkeepers. It’s usually the forwards at the front of the field or the mid-fielders at the centre who bask in the glory whenever a victory is earned; however, the very fact he may go unnoticed never stopped Sotiri Varlokostas from taking on the position.
“I wanted to be goalie,” the young athlete said. “I played everywhere. I played forward for a bit and scored a lot of goals, but at the end I wanted to play goalie.”
A second-year player on the York Lions men’s soccer team, Varlokostas comes to games ready to play in his goalie jersey and gloves. For the committed player, it’s not about the attention he can get, but how he can improve as a player.
“I remember all my bad goals that I let in. All of them – and I’ve had a few,” he remarked.
Though it was a struggle for the young goalie to get where he wanted to be, he soon realized mistakes were the only way he was going to learn.
“Every year you grow and you become a different player. For me, I got better at shot stopping, collecting crosses [passes in front of the net] and communicating with my defence.”
Varlokostas, a political science major, has come a long way, and began playing in a house league with friends at age five. Now he has risen to become one of the Lions’ best players: he racked up three consecutive shutouts in a single week during the team’s first October games, even against top opponents like the McMaster Marauders. This season Varlokostas has finished nine games with no goals counted against him, giving York some great momentum.
The team’s assistant coach, Hieu Quach, recognizes a lot of talent in the goalkeeper.
“He’s physically a big guy [Varlokostas is six foot two] and his shot-stopping ability has given him nice presence in the box.”
The coach also realizes the team benefits a lot by having him on board.
“He’s getting game action every day and, with that experience, he’s going to be a valuable player in the playoffs.”
Though Varlokostas is a soccer player at heart, he’s not always chasing that adrenaline rush. “I like chilling out with friends, just relaxing and lying down,” he admits.
He’s not big on reading in one spot, however, and is a huge fan of watching Gianluigi Buffon, Italian goalkeeper for the famed Juventus, on television.
Varlokostas also cannot deny that he is a very team-oriented kind of player. “I think of everyone on the team as a brother. We’re as close as a family,” he shares.
The young goaltender hopes the team feels the same way. “I hope they’re confident with me behind the net. I hope they see me as a brother on the team as well.”
Though Varlokostas has seen a lot of success, there’s still one goal he’s yet to accomplish this year. The York Lion is eager to defeat the university’s biggest opponent, the Western Mustangs, in the playoffs.
Losing has never really been an option for the player, especially because the coaching staff constantly pushes him to excel.
With all of this talent under his belt, and an outstanding record this season so far, one might wonder whether Varlokostas has given any thought to a professional soccer career.
“If the opportunity came across, I’d definitely go for it, but right now school and athletics are still kind of mixed together.”
