Pre Season

I know that football just got over and basketball is under way but it's already time to start thinking about soccer. Right now there is after school weight training and conditioning going on, check with Captains Tanner Crass, Phil Vorheis, Jared Brisbin, or Brandon Hale to find out dates and times.

The first indoor open gym will be January 7th at 8:30 Pm at the high school.

Starting February 16th at 3:30 we will have a conditioning training camp at Lampson Stadium. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be at Lampson. Tuesday and Thursday from 3:00-4:30 conditioning will be held at the high school.

This is an opportunity for our team to be match fit for our first game and allow us to focus on training during the first two weeks of practice rather than conditioning.

It should be every players goal to start this season at the same fitness level as the end of last season.

4th Place

It's hard to imagine that this time last week we were in 1st place, but that's the way things go in this league. Last night's 1-0 loss to Sunnyside was a real heart breaker. It was probably the best game we'd played all year we just couldn't sneak one in the back of the net. The boy's never gave up though. Hopefully the most important thing we learned last night is how to play with intensity. During the last 24 minutes of the game we played so hard, we played with purpose, intent, and a desire to win that we'd never seen from them before. Hopefully everyone understands that this is how you need to play for 80 minutes every game. If we did this we would score often and nobody could stop us.

Our next game is Saturday against West Valley and it will be the seniors last athletic event for the blue and gold. We appreciate the effort they've put in over the years and we hope that a lot of family and Friends will be in attendance to honor them.

Tough Way To Lose

Shootouts. Everybody hates them nobody loves them. From a coaching standpoint we love our teams chances in a shootout. We have a great keeper who reads the shooter well. We also have about seven or eight guys who are very reliable shooters. The reason we don't like them is because any thing can happen, a keeper can just dive one way and guess right, a shooter can mishit the ball and not go where he wanted.

We played extremely well for 90 minutes and had a wonderful attempt blocked by their goalie. When you look at the way our defense played, and the way we moved the ball around this was definitely one of the best games we've played this year. Some highlights of the game included Brandon Hale making seven saves and earning his fifth shutout of the year. Jared Brisbin also man marked one of the best players in the league, he has now man marked top players three times this year and not only kept them from scoring or assisting any goals but also shut down the teams offensive attacks. Freshmen Josh Mendoza played his first career varsity game. He started and played really well, most importantly he earned his teammates respect.

The game against Sunnyside will be a great test tomorrow. They are playing their best soccer of the season so far and we still have a chance to win the league with a victory over them.

Saturday's Game Time

The game against Eastmont on Saturday will be played at 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm with the JV playing the early time as usual. Our next opponent Sunnyside will be playing Kamiakin at 11:00 am so it would be a good idea to come watch this game as both teams are tied for second one game back from us.

We would also like to take a moment and stress the importance of the Eastmont game, we need to win this game and maintain possession of first place so we will be positioned favorably in the playoff seeding.

Now The Good News

Kamiakin and Eastmont played on Saturday. Our reason for rooting against Kamiakin had nothing to do with the crosstown rivalry but with the fact that a Kamaikin loss would put us back in first place. Not only did kamiakin lose but it was the best case scenario, a 0-0 tie that Eastmont won in a shootout. So Eastmont only got two points for the win and Kamiakin got one. So here we are with four games left and we're at the top of the league table, Eastmont, Kamiakin, and Sunnyside are all one game back tied for second place. So the question is are we going to step up and take what's been put in front of us or are we going to squander another chance to win this league?

We've been saying it all year, this next game is huge. We've experienced what it's like to be in this position and win, as well as lose. It feels much better to win and control your own destiny. So hopefully we'll come out and train hard this week and put all of our energy into winning this game.

Practice Note: There will be no practice on Monday the 14th, we will resume on Tuesday and go from 5:00 - 7:00 pm

Tough Loss

Last Thursday's loss to Kamiakin was a tough one to swallow. It was such a huge game, and the stakes were very high. The winner of the game had a fast track to the league championship and the loser would have to battle the rest of the season for playoff seating.

The thing our boy's need to understand is that every team we beat in the first half is going to come at us harder than ever to prove that it was a fluke we beat them the first time around. kamiakin came into that game with something to prove, they came into that game like it was for the league title. We came into that game like we do every other game, we came to win, but we didn't match their intensity. I think a valuable lesson was learned in that game. We have four games left, nothing else matters, not being in first or second place, not how we started the season, not that we've broken the team records for wins in a season or shutouts in a season. The only thing that matters is these next four games and where we finish in the league table.

Tale Of Two Halves

In our first game against Hanford the defense allowed zero shots on goal. In the rematch last night they had nine, in the first half, three of which hit the crossbar. It seemed we couldn't do anything right except get lucky and watch Brandon Hale make six wonderful saves. At halftime a simple question was asked "do you want to be in first place or not?' The boys responded well, showing that yes indeed they do want to stay on top of the league table. We controlled the ball for most of the second half and had some wonderful chances including Corey Grady's potential game winner that was cleared off the line. Hale made five additional saves and played his best game of the season. Coach Elfering said "for the first time this season Brandon took control of the box and really owned it." Also Jared Brisbin once again drew the daunting task of man marking the best player in the league Dino Ramic. The sophomore proved he was the man for the job limiting Ramic to two shots on goal and limited his play making ability.

In the shootout Brandon was reading the shots right, but they were all on target until he blocked the seventh shot he saw. That set up John Zoulek, who only played five minutes due to an injury to come in cold and bury the game winner.

The game was important to maintain sole ownership of first place and set up another huge game against rival Kamiakin tomorrow at 7:00 pm. It will be important to have as many fans as possible at this game. We have the chance to sweep our rival and be clear of the other teams by two games.

Around the league: West Valley won their first match of the year against Sunnyside that dropped the Grizzlies two games out of first.

JV Note: The Junior Varsity squad improved to 5-2 in league with a 7-0 win over Hanford. They dominated every aspect of the game which was highlighted by Zack Patten's hat trick and Connor Craven's two goals.
JV's two league losses were both 0-0 matches that went to shootouts.
In the last three games they've outscored opponents 12-1.
For the season they've outscored opponents 21-10 and are 5-4 overall.

Complete Turnaround

Well for those of you who don't remember at this point last year we were 1-5 and hadn't scored a goal yet in the season. So as you can imagine it feels really good to be 5-1 and in first place at the half way point. Saturday we played another scrappy game and were rewarded with a 2-0 victory over Kennewick. Jared Brisbin and Corey Grady each scored their first goals of the season. Riese Byrd assisted both times and Brandon Hale earned his 3rd shutout of the year.

We're real proud of the way the boys have stepped up and are taking ownership of the season. There have been many times this season when it would have been easy to fold under the pressure and make excuses and so far we haven't seen that.

The way the next two games play out will really tell us what we're made of. On Tuesday we play at Hanford who is in second place one game behind us. If we don't win this game there will be another three way tie for first place. Then we play Kamiakin on Thursday who is also in second place one game back. We're still in a place that we can set our own destiny. We need to take every game one at a time and unfortunately we can't take a breath and enjoy where we're at, everything is still too close. So keep playing hard and beat Hanford tomorrow.

Game Note: The Hanford game times have been changed to 5:00 pm for JV and 7:00 pm for varsity to be played at Hanford's new soccer field on the East end of the schools property.

Dominating Performance

Yesterday we witnessed the best road game the Suns have played in a long time. Riese Byrd and Bill Landefled both scored their second goals of the year and Michael Brewer ripped a 40 yard shot into the upper seven to win the game 3-1. One of the best things we saw were some moments of wonderful passing and we also played stingy defense. The game was so important because we earned a much needed six points and it set us up to finish the first half of league play with a 5-1 record. However, this can only be accomplished with a victory over cross town rival Kennewick this Saturday. Kennewick is a difficult team to play due to their all out defensive tactics. They have played several different players so far this season so again it's hard to gauge them as a team. The good thing is we are now playing a brand of soccer that if we play our game, and play to our strengths the outcome should be in our favor.

The boys have done a good job of staying focused and taking one game at a time. We have to keep in mind that so far the only thing we've done is played well up to the half way point. We still have to play our best soccer moving forward so we can make a run in the playoffs. Let's focus on these next three day's of training and play a great game on Saturday.

JV Note: The Junior Varsity squad also improved their league record to 4-1 with a 5-1 trouncing over West Valley.

Way To Bounce Back

On Saturday the Suns won an extremely important game against Sunnyside. Going into the game there was a three way tie for first place between the Suns, Sunnyside, and Kamiakin. The winner of the game would stay at the top of the table and the loser could drop all the way to fifth place. The good thing was our boy's new this and rather than folding under the pressure they prevailed in a scrappy hard fought game against a very worthy opponent.

Coach Elfering unconventionally decided to go into the wind in the first half and the strategy payed off as the defense stifled all of Sunnyside's attacks to go to the half 0-0. In fact Southridge Forward Riese Byrd had the best chance five minutes into the game he beat the keeper but unluckily hit the crossbar. The game wasn't pretty by any means, Sunnyside had a wonderful attack all game long as they passed the ball from defense to midfield but every time our defense was in the right position and turned away every attack. Brandon Hale made four saves including a first half clearance of a dangerous cross that had a Sunnyside attacker waiting to finish. The shining moment in the game was when Corey Grady's pass made it's way to Ryan Downs who had to beat one defender than ripped a 20 yard shot passed keeper Joaquin Perez. The goal came with three minutes left in the game and was Ryan's first career varsity goal.

It should be noted that last year if a goal was scored in the closing minutes of a game it was unfortunately against us. This is a good sign of the maturation of this team, and the ability to close a game out.

Our next challenge is Tuesday. In our two seasons with this program and probably going back much further this team has never performed well on the road. In fact in most cases the results have been very disheartening. In West Valley you have a team that has yet to win a league game but has been improving each week. There are no easy games in this league. We have to go up there and prove that we can win on the road. Coach Elfering has pointed out that "if you have any aspirations of making a run in the playoffs you will have to win some road games." Let's get one Tuesday.

JV Note: The Junior Varsity squad beat Sunnyside 2-1 and improved to 3-1 in the league and 3-3 overall.

Poor Showing

For the second year in a row we traveled to Eastmont and played our worst soccer of the year. The boys were not mentally prepared for the game, after winning the first two league games they thought that if they just showed up Eastmont would give us the win. In this league you have to show up to play your best game of the season every week. Six of the seven teams in the league are within one game of each other. Yes, it's early in the season but don't expect much to change by the end of the year. The most frustrating thing about Wednesdays game wasn't that we lost, we know we won't win every game. It was that the boy's didn't play our game, they didn't do what we've been telling them all season. Eastmont is a good team but we feel that we're better, and if we play our style then we can beat them.

As coaches we are constantly thinking of ways to make our team better, when we implement a change of tactics or personnel on the field it's always to make the team better. We need the players to buy into our system and play hard every practice and every game. We need the boys to take it upon themselves to be more coachable and willing to do what is asked of them.

We have another huge game tomorrow against Sunnyside and hopefully the boys will be ready to redeem themselves.

Important Week

In case you haven't noticed the league is going to be close all year. We have a very important week coming up for us. On Wednesday we play at Eastmont for our first road trip of the year. Eastmont has the returning CBL MVP Javier Tovar and they have struggled so far this year. They only lost one league match last year and are already 1-2 in league. We have to capitalize on our momentum and steal a win. The easiest way to do that will be to put a lot of shots on goal. Eastmonts goal keeper is frequently caught out of position and doesn't have great footwork. This is where we can win the game. The seasons has gone well so far but we need to continue to win games so we can clear ourselves of the congestion in the League Table. When there are so many teams within a game of each other one loss can send you sliding down the table, this is why it's so important for us to win. On Saturday we play Sunnyside at home, this game will be huge but we can't even think about it until after the Eastmont game Wednesday. The same is true for them, they have an obstacle in their way with their Kamiakin game tomorrow. So let's just take things one game at a time and continue to improve our situation.

It's Been A Long Time Coming

Southridge finally recorded the programs first win over Kamiakin. Everyone is so proud of the boys. It was a typical Kamiakin Southridge game with nine yellow cards, one red card, and officiating leaning towards the Brave’s side. But our boys overcame it all to dominate the shootout 3-1 with Brandon Hale blocking three of the four kicks he saw. The scoring got started in the 38th minute with Reise Byrd’s first goal of the season. Phil Vorheis sent a long cross from the back line and with a defender in close pursuit Reise ripped a shot past the on rushing keeper. The Sun’s were elated with the 1-0 half time lead but didn’t come out of the half ready to close the game out. Corey Grady had the best chance after beating three Kamiakin defenders he placed a beautiful shot in the upper seven but it hit the crossbar and went out of bounds. Kamiakin then scored in the 57th minute off a goal that was only let in due to confusion between keeper and defense. Head Coach Chip Elfering was extremely pleased with his players but noted two things, “we have to start closing teams out, and we can’t rest on our previous two wins we need to keep pressing forward.” Once again Brandon Hale played well with nine saves giving him 24 for the season. One player that has been playing well all year and deserves some recognition is Jared Weatherly. He keeps coming up in the coaches post game discussions, and we are real proud of the way he has played thus far. After winning three games in a row our overall record is 3-1.

JV Note: The Junior Varsity squad also prevailed in a shootout for their first ever victory over Kamiakin. Franky Leon scored the regulation goal and leads the team with three goals this season. Record 2-2

Off To A Great Start

Southridge played their first league game of the year on Saturday, against a rival team that the Suns lost two close games against last year. Hanford has league MVP candidate Dino Ramic who is a dangerous playmaking midfielder. The daunting task of shutting him down was placed on Sophomore Jared Brisbin’s wide shoulders. Jared played him so tough that he was yellow carded 25 minutes into the game. No matter though with Jared’s man marking and the stellar defense played by Jesse Keen, Nick Johnson, and Phil Vorheis neither Ramic nor any other Hanford player even managed a shot on goal. Goalkeeper Brandon Hale was quoted saying “It was the easiest shutout of my life” Freshmen Bill Landefeld got his first career goal in the 57th minute off an assist from Reice Byrd. Reice played well pressuring the opposing defense all day and not committing any fouls. It’s only one game but it sure is nice to see Southridge on top of the league standings. Make sure all families and friends are in attendance for this Wednesday’s “away” game vs. Kamiakin at Lampson Stadium. The suns have never beaten Kamiakin in soccer and this just maybe our year.

JV note: The Junior Varsity Squad earned their first win of the year with a 3-1 victory.

Congratulations

Brandon Hale, a sophomore goalkeeper for the suns has been named Souhtridge High School Athlete Of The Week. Brandon posted his first career varsity win against Mt Spokane on Saturday. During a two game stretch last weekend he made 15 saves against three goals. The Suns will rely heavily on Brandon this season as they hope to make a deep playoff run.

Come support the team this Saturday at 11:00 am against rival Hanford.

Season Starts Well

Our First game of the year was against GSL favorite University. They came out with a barrage of shots and despite Brandon Hale's two saves in the first five minutes University struck home in the 12th minute. The game was fought hard and told us what we really need to work on this week, but in the end University's precision passing and work ethic prevailed in a 2-0 loss for the Suns. Defenders Nick Johnson and Jesse Keen played extremely well. Brandon Hale finished with eight saves.

The following day we played Mt Spokane, this game was sure to tell us how mentally tough we were after losing 16 hours earlier. Southridge came out focused and moved the ball around much better, made a more concentrated effort to win the 50-50 balls and scored in the 41st minute. John Elliot Zoulek took a nice pass from Tanner Crass and beat the goalkeeper for the blue and gold's first goal of the season. Once again Brandon Hale played really well in goal but was unable to stop a blasted shot off a corner kick that tied the game at 1-1. That is where the score was at the end of regulation, and on to sudden death overtime the game went.
Head Coach Chip Elfering asked one thing of his players "show me how much heart you have and show me how much you want to win this game". Well show him they did. Two minutes into the first overtime Corey Grady sent a long throw in to John Elliot Zoulek which he promptly passed to Casper Bertheau who had to beat the keeper twice after his first shot bounced off the post and deflected back to him. Final score Southridge over Mt. Spokane 2-1.

We need to practice hard this week in preparation for our first league match against Hanford. Hanford drew a 1-1 tie with Richland in their only game so far this season.

Lewis & Clark Game Cancelled

This Saturday’s game with Lewis & Clark has been cancelled. Instead we will be playing at home against Mt. Spokane. They do not have a JV team so we have invited Pasco’s C team to come play.

JV game vs. Pasco at 11:00 am, Varsity game vs. Mt Spokane at 1:00 pm

Getting Close To Game Time

Well the first week of practice was here and is gone. The teams have been announced and we’re just four days away from our first game. The varsity team looks good, they are working well together and the work ethic has been much better this year. Hopefully this week we will get 100% healthy, and continue to work together. University will be a tough challenge on Friday and should provide a good measuring stick as to where we stand this early in the season. Lewis and Clark the following day will also be a good match, we lost 1-0 to them last year on a goal in the final two minutes of the game. I think we will be in for another close one but I predict the game will be decided much earlier than that.

A Junior Varsity note: We had 27 people on the roster and are now down to 23, which means playing time will be at a premium. I wanted to remind everyone that there is no equal playing time in High School Soccer. Your playing time is decided by three components, Skill level, work ethic, and attitude. Not just one component will earn you playing time; you will need at least two. My best advice is to work so hard that the coaches have to find a spot for you.

Jo-Jo

I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of Jo-Jo. We were delighted to have him come and play this season and were sadden by the news of his premature death. Chip and I spent a half hour after practice with him Monday evening and told him he would be playing on the Junior Varsity squad this season. He was so excited for the opportunity to play and be a part of the team. He was most excited about getting to wear the Southridge uniform and representing his school. I only got to watch Jo-Jo that first day of practice and I can tell you that he was a hard worker, loyal, dedicated, outgoing, friendly and most importantly he was a very good person. We can learn so many lessons in life by looking at the type of person he was. If everybody has just a few of the many endearing traits that Jo-Jo possessed we will all be better people. We’ll miss you Jo-Jo.

Jovan Jo-Jo Conn 1987-2008

Final Pre Season Update

Hanford finished 5th in the conference with a 4-8 league record (5-10 overall) and lost in the first round of the playoffs to Kamiakin. They posted impressive victories on the road against West Valley and Sunnyside. I think you will remember their other two victories coming against us, in the first league match of the year they scored with two minutes left to win 1-0. Then beat us with two goals in the added time to win 2-1. It doesn’t need to be said that with those two close games and Head Coach Kyle Verick being a former Southridge coach that this is a good rivalry game. In my opinion Hanford has the leagues best player in Dino Romnic he should make a strong run at mvp. Hanford also returns their goalkeeper who was a rookie last year and will have much needed experience this season. Throw in a few solid retuning starters in the midfield and defense this Hanford team is a lock to make the playoffs. They will go as far as Dino will take them; it will be interesting to see what position he may play as he can play forward, inside or outside mid, and he is probably the best defender on the team.

Kennewick went 3-9 (4-11 overall) securing the last playoff seed, and lost in the first round to Eastmont 3-2. They return a sophomore keeper who saw lots of action last season, and have several kids coming back who saw significant playing time. This team played defensive minded all season long and just like Southridge played in 11 one goal games. Expect them to be tough on defense again this season, and look for them to compete for a playoff spot again this year. We beat them in a shootout the first time and they returned the favor in the last game of the season. This was also an intense rivalry game and will be important for us to win in order to make a our playoff run.

Opponent Update

Sunnyside finished third in the conference at 8-4 (13-5 overall) and delivered League Champion Eastmont their only two losses of the season but lost in the first round of state. They were hit hard by graduation but have plenty of players coming back to stay competitive. The thing you have to remember about Sunnyside is they like to play “pretty” soccer. In other words they pass the ball a lot and wait for you to have a defensive break down that they turn into one on one scoring opportunities. Make no mistake they will be excellent at playing this style of soccer again this year. Everyone will have to maintain their defensive responsibilities and keep your shape. When the opportunity arises you have to tackle hard and play physical against them, this will make them not want to hang on to the ball and will disrupt their rhythm. As always they will draw a lot of fouls with theatrical diving and playing to the refs desires to hand out cards. We have to pick our spots and not draw fouls in dangerous areas. Sunnyside will do very well on set pieces again this season. Expect two hard fought games against them as they will be ambitious to finish as well or better than last season.

West Valley finished fourth place in the conference at 7-5 (9-7 overall) and lost in the first round of districts. West Valley was probably the hardest hit team due to graduation. Not only the number of players they lost but also the quality of players. The thing that stood out the most to me was their home record of 4-2 with both losses coming in one goal games. They are an extremely tough team to play on the road. Lampson Stadium was pretty friendly to them as well winning two games against one loss to Kamiakin. They will be welcoming a new coach and as I said before they lost many key players so they're kind of a wild card in the league. We’re not sure what significant players they’ll have coming back or what new tactics the first year coach will bring. One thing we do know is they return last season’s goalkeeper who played well all year, and you can count on them to not give away too many games at home.

Check back later for updates on Hanford and Kennewick.

One Week Until Practice

There is only one week left until practice starts, I hope you guys are getting in shape and getting prepared for the physical conditioning that will be waiting for you. As coaches we felt that our biggest downfall at the beginning of last season was the team not being fit to run for 80-90 minutes. That will not be the case this year. This is my way of warning everyone to use this last week and start to get into shape.

We start the season playing two non-conference games against the GSL 4A division, then all the games count for us to make a deep run into the playoffs. This week I will be reminding you of our conference opponents records last year and who they have coming back.

Eastmont was the league Champions posting an 11-1 league record, (13-2 overall). They lost to Sunnyside in the District Championship. They will be returning the MVP of the league who is as dangerous setting up teammates as he is scoring. Eastmont will have a target on their back all season and will have to deal with every team giving them thier best shot. I think last year they flew under the radar the first half of the season and won't be able to do that again, but I predict they will finish near the top of the table again.

Kamiakin finished second in the league with an 8-4 league record (12-5 overall) and lost to East Valley in the second round of districts. They also may have the toughest player to replace in midfielder Jacob Ellig. He was a real playmaker whose opponents always had to be aware of his location on the pitch. They will be in good hands with a core of returning starters including two goalkeepers who split time last year. Coach Borak may have trouble finding adaquete playing time to keep both players happy. Kamiakin won the Big Nine title in 2006 and were runners up last year, so you can count on them to battle for the League Championship once again.

Check back later for updates on Sunnyside and West Valley.

Countdown to Soccer season 2008

Two more weeks until the new season begins and practices are in full swing. All practices will be held at Lampson Stadium and we have the 7-9 p.m. slot the first week. Parents meeting on the 25th at 5:30 p.m. at Southridge High School. We will be conditioning hard the first week of practice, so start running now. It looks like we will have more student athletes turning out than we've had in the last several years, so hopes will be high to finish near the top of the league. I will be keeping you up to date on our season as well as other area teams.