The soccer season for high school is in full swing, and games are starting to be very common with boys and girls teams alike. The boys varsity has had a rough start to the season, losing their first three games to Saint Xavier, Collegiate, and South Warren. However, they got some bragging rights back from their win against Fairdale. The Varsity and JV teams both have their next two games on Saturday the 24th against South Oldham and North Oldham in the OC Classic. However, unlike the varsity team, the JV team has had more success, with their starting record being two wins and one tie.
JV has had major changes to the coaching staff, with Coach Andrew Dixon leaving and the varsity coach Mark Benitez’s son Jackson stepping in with Nick Rolink to help coach the JV team. These coaches have taken their team to two preseason wins without any practices together and two regular season wins. Their collegiate knowledge has helped bring the boys’ game to another level, making them a formidable team to play against and holding Saint X, arguably the best soccer school in the state, to a tie in a game last Saturday. The next home game is on the 26th at 6:00 for the JV, and 8:30 for the Varsity.
Varsity will be playing against Warren Central, and then both teams will take on their rivals Eastern on September 3rd at Eastern High School. To prepare for their first district game against the Eagles, they are focusing a lot on emphasizing game-play. Throughout their season so far, they have been struggling to close out halves and games, being scored on the most in the last five minutes of each game. To avoid this, coach Mark Benitez is working on conditioning, passing, and sharpening their game sense and game-play to be able to convert on their opportunities and not fold under pressure from the other teams’ attacks in the last minutes of their games. After struggling in the first games of the season, a complete shift is happening in formation and game-play to see if it will bring them more success in the games to come moving forward.
