All-Area Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year: Sislian provides power surge for Hoover
When the 2016-17 Hoover High boys’ soccer season ended in mid-March, it also marked the conclusion of the Tornadoes career of senior Romio Sislian.
However, Sislian continues to roam the Tornadoes field, often alone late in the day, taking advantage of the last few glimmers of light before the sun sets in the early evening. Routinely, it is just Sislian and his soccer ball, far removed from the excitement of a high school match and the exuberance of teammates and fans.
“I really remember all of those times when I’m alone, just me and my soccer ball,” said Sislian, who first started playing when he was 3 years old. “To this day, I still go out and work on my game and work on my shots. Even though the season is done, I still have to be out there trying to get better. I have to try and get ready to hopefully play in college. I really don’t take breaks ... I don’t really like breaks.
“I have always been practicing since I was a little kid, sometimes alone, sometimes with others. I would like to think that all of that time that I worked so hard had really paid off and made me the player that I am.
Hoover Coach Anastasios “Ace” Metallinos said during his tenure at Hoover, Sislian would often stay after practice to get in extra work.
“I think he knew how good he was, but he still wanted to get better as a player,” Metallinos said. “We would stay after practice to work on his shots. He just has that drive where he wants to succeed and he wants to get better.
“He had a good season a year ago as a junior, but this season, he just took his game to another level.”
Sislian turned in one of the post productive individual seasons in Hoover program history. He was the most dominant player in the Pacific League, helping the Tornadoes to their first postseason berth in seven season and earning Pacific League Player of the Year. In addition, the midfielder was honored as an All-CIF Southern Section Division IV first-team selection.
It’s because of those accomplishments that Sislian been been unanimously chosen the 2017 Boys’ Soccer Player of the Year by the sports writers and editor of the Burbank Leader, Glendale News-Press and La Cañada Valley Sun.
As a junior, Sislian had a solid season for Hoover, finishing with nine goals and 10 assists, earning second-team all-league and All-Area honors for a team that didn’t qualify for the playoffs.
For his senior campaign, Sislian didn’t look to achieve any individual aspirations, but instead concentrated on fulfilling one goal.
“Honestly, my goal in the beginning of the season was to get Hoover High School into the playoffs, really that was it,” he said. “That was more important than anything that I could do individually as a player. This was something that I and the other players on the team wanted to do for the program.”
Hoover went 14-6-4 and had a 7-4-3 mark in the Pacific League for third place. The Tornadoes notched impressive league wins against league-champion Burroughs (4-2) and rival Glendale (4-1 and 4-0). Hoover qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2010, losing in the Division IV first round to Glendora, 3-1.
Sislian proved to be an offensive powerhouse for the Tornadoes, showing he was as adept at scoring goals as he was setting them up. He ended the season with a team-best 26 goals and 17 assists for 69 points.
“Romio is a guy who is very dedicated and he works really hard at practice. You could tell that soccer really means a lot to him,” Hoover senior goalkeeper Anthony Flores said. “He is always the guy who would stick around after practice shooting around when the other guys had already left. He is a guy who really loves the sport.
“It was just great to watch him sometimes during a game. I would watch him take one of his hard shots on goal and I would just be like ‘Wow,’ some of them were that good.”
Sislian’s rocket-like shot became his calling card. The senior made a habit of using it to beat opponents for goals — sometimes from 30, 40 or more yards out — on shots that had tremendous velocity or would take wicked angles before they came to rest in the back of the net.
“It is a special technique that I’ve been practicing for so many years,” Sislian said. “I’ve probably taken 10,000 shots the same way just to get it right. It just comes naturally to me now. If I connect well, I will get that shot perfect every time because that’s how much I’ve practiced it. It’s all practice.”
Said Metallinos: “Romio is like a European sports car, where other guys might be like an American muscle car; he has the power, but he also has the finesse and he has the unique style. Some of his shots are sheer power and others would be like a curve ball or a knuckle ball, where they would start out going one way and end up going another. The ball would do wonders.
“Getting his shot like this has nothing to do with lifting weights and getting stronger. It is just his form ... he has always had a good form. Over the years, he just learned the proper way to hit the ball. Another great quality is that he can do it with either leg, the left or the right. When you have that kind of skill, it’s very hard to defend that.”
With his high school career behind him, Sislian is currently playing for the FC Golden State Club Team. He will be with the squad in April when it takes part in the prestigious Dallas Cup XXXVIII. Sislian is hoping to catch the eye of some college coaches.
“I just want to keep playing soccer,” he said. “Soccer for me is like an escape from the real world. It is a release for me. I really can’t think of life without it.”
