The boys varsity soccer season started on Mar. 3 and ends on May 1. The team currently has a record of seven wins and six losses coming off of a four-game losing streak.
“I think we’ve talked a lot about our formation because in the last two [games], I was late and we made a rapid switch to different formations,” junior midfielder Jonah Sheen said. “So we’ve kind of [gone] back to our primary formation just to work out some things.”
The team has many potential reasons for their losing streak, one of them being communication.
“Some things we struggle with are just communicating and complaining, and we aren’t doing the little things on and off the field,” junior center midfielder Tate Johnstun said. “We’ve been working on making sure we are attacking and defending and holding each other accountable and making sure we are reaching a certain standard.”
With a losing record, many players search for ways to better prepare themselves and lock in before games. This team is no different and has many ways of hyping themselves up outside of normal ways like just listening to music in the locker room.
“We do an ‘ole’ chant, a huddle chant, and the boys do a mosh in the locker room,” assistant coach Alan Rawlins said
At this time last season the team had a record of 11-3 compared to this season’s 7-6 record. Some believe that the difference in records is due to skilled senior players no longer playing for the team and the coach’s emphasis on raising younger talent.
“This year I feel like we are more connected, people still have their own groups, but we are all interlocking and mixing it up, and getting to know each other better,” Johnstun said.
This year also provided a new opportunity to play and get recognition on a grander stage. Five junior varsity players from last year moved up to varsity this year, and one player played for junior varsity this season and moved up to varsity the same year.
“Last year was different because I had to fight my way up to varsity and this year I just started,” junior forward Trey Jones said.
Many players on this team are lifelong players, and many of them also have parents who played the game.
“My parents kind of put me into it,” Sheen said. “They both played in college, so that’s what I want to do. I want to eventually try and make a new one, but just wherever soccer takes me is what I want to do. It’s what I’ll always do.”
They have one of their last games today at Farmington. They have already played against Farmington and lost 0-4. This game is one the only games they still have available to stay above a 0.5 record.
“I think that we have a lot more to fight for this game because none of us want that same result to happen,” Jones said.
