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.