Nov 24, 2009

Off Season Schedule

Chip wanted to let everyone know that Dec. 2nd we will have our preseason meeting during lunch in Mr. Homme's room. All prospective players need to show up, no matter if your a returning letter winner or a freshmen everyone needs to attend. This meeting is where you will get all of your information for the upcoming season. Please pass the word along to anyone you think may want to play.

Many players have asked for the opportunity to do some soccer specific weight training and now you'll have your chance. Starting Tuesday December 8th from 5-7 we will be working out in the weight room at SHS. We will go Tuesday's, Wednesday's and Thursday's all of December and January.

We will start our conditioning camp Tuesday February 2nd at Lampson Stadium. It will run the same dates and times as the weight training sessions the entire month of February.

First day of practice is March 1st!

Sep 25, 2009

What's Going On

Well it's been awhile since there's been a post and although there's still four months until the high school season starts the boys are plying their trade at the club level.

Seniors
Captain Jarad Brisbin accepted an invitation to play for Snohomish United and helped lead his team to an undefeated regular season league title. (10-0) Snohomish led the league in goals scored (32) goal differential (+29) and were tops in the league only conceding three goals.

John Zoulek has returned from injuries that have kept him out of the last two seasons. He played for the Sun City Strikers.

Captain Brandon Hale has taken a year off from club ball but continues to work out with a u16 team. As long as he stays healthy he will hold all the major goalkeeping records at Southridge when his career is finished.

Juniors
Bill Landefeld, Josh Mendoza, Zach Russell, Conner Cravens & Adolfo Garcia are playing for the u17 Three Rivers Celtic team that finished in fifth place (4-2-4) in the league table. This was Celtic's first year in premier one and they played really well only losing two games all season. Bill was the second leading scorer on the team with six goals. Celtic were tops in the league only conceding nine goals, no surprise that three of the starting four defenders were Josh, Zack & Conner.

Sophomores
Jake Zoulek, Chandler Mertens, Keaton Hale, Brandon T. & incoming freshmen play up Conner Mertens played for the u16 Three Rivers United team . United won five of their last seven games to finish in fourth place (6-5-1). Jake lead the team in scoring with 15 goals while Chandler pitched in with five, and Keaton added two. The Southridge trio accounted for 65% of United's 34 goals scored, which gave them the second most goals in the league.

Head Coach Chip Elfering stepped down from his duties as a coach with the Southridge football team and is a volunteer assistant for his wife Sara at Richland. This was Sara's first year as head coach and led RHS to a 15-4 record and won the CBBN league title.

Assistant Coach Riley Dodson coached his first year at the club level and his Three Rivers u14 girls team finished undefeated at 8-0-2 and won the league title. The "Rage" led the league in scoring with 35 goals, had the best goal differential (+30) while only conceding 5 goals all year.

So as you can see the players have stayed busy improving their skills, and are looking forward to high school ball. While the coaches have been busy with their off season duties they are now ready for the upcoming season and have high hopes for this years squad.

May 6, 2009

Playoff Picture

After dropping the 3a teams out of the final standings the top eight teams will take part in the district playoffs.

After just one playoff appearance in the history of the program your Suns are now making back to back playoff appearances. This time as the third seed we will host a home game against eighth seed Walla Walla. We hope to have as many fans as possible in the stands to support the boys, the games we've played our best in we have had wonderful fan support. This game is a momentous occasion as a win will send us to the Regional Tournament for the first time ever, a loss on the other had will end our season. WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT!

Pasco plays Kamiakin in the District Championship, with both teams already having secured a regional berth.

Davis plays host to Moses Lake and Eisenhower will host Kennewick in loser out contests.

We're Back

Sorry I haven't had a post for a while, after the Davis game we had to focus on getting back to playing Sun Soccer and that took all of our time and energy.

Some quick recognition from the Davis game; Jake Zoulek scored his ninth goal of the year, on Taylor Barnes first career assist. We were only the second team to score at Davis this year and the first in a month. Goalkeeper Brandon Hale played a great game making seven saves including two 1v1 breakaways.

The West Valley game saw our return to form as we battled one of the toughest teams in the league. The Rams were on a nine game win streak and were led by in form striker Junior Ayala, who had tallied a league best 23 goals. He would however prove no match for the suns physical play as Senior leader Corey Grady made it his goal to knock Junior down early and often. This set the tone for the match and the rest of the team stepped up and matched the intensity. We were unlucky to have a first half goal called back for a foul. Adolfo Garcia sent a high cross into the box off a rebound from a corner kick and Grady rose up to smash the ball into the back of the net. It was the referees view that Grady pushed off a defender to gain an advantage and the goal was disallowed. Junior Captain Jarad Brisbin had to headers saved by the keeper, as the Suns were able to dominate the aerial attack. Once again Brandon Hale's play between the pipes was stellar as he made eight saves and picked up his school record 10th shutout of the season.

The game would go to sudden death overtime and in the closing seconds Freshmen Jake Zoulek's upper 90 shot was saved by the West Valley keeper. So the game was to be decided in a shootout and despite an opening round save from Hale, and spot kicks converted by Brisbin, Tanner Crass, and Garcia the Rams won the shootout and kept second place for themselves while we settled for fourth.

Apr 27, 2009

Around The League

The Suns enjoyed a much needed weekend off before we make our assault on the final week of the season and hopefully a deep run into the playoffs.

Here is what happened in the Big Nine this weekend.

Most of the matches had predictable outcomes with the exception of two. The most important one was Kamiakin at Davis. A Pirate victory would give Southridge a fighting chance to earn second place in the league and a guaranteed spot in Regionals. Luck was with us as the Braves conceded a goal in the 11th minute, and goalkeeper Abel Bautista picked up a red card in the 55th. Davis would seal the deal with a goal four minutes from the final whistle. Kamiakin now has to deal with West Valley who is ranked 9th in the state in 3A and has won eight in a row without Bautista manning the pipes.

If we win our last two games and Kamiakin drops one against West Valley or Pasco we'll have the second spot and the chance for a district title.

The other match in question was Walla Walla at Ike. Ike picked up the 2-1 win and dropped Walla Walla into the final playoff spot.

The only other surprise of the day was that Pasco could only muster one goal against Kennewick, but it was enough for a 1-0 victory. Pasco stays unbeaten and ranked 1st in the state. The Lions dropped their fourth league match in a row (fifth overall) and currently sit in the fifth spot for playoff seeding.

Sunnyside beat Eastmont in a shootout, and West Valley won 5-0 against Hanford. Senior Junior Ayala scored two goals to bring his season tally to an incredible 22.

Richland is mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with a 3-1 loss to Moses Lake. The Chiefs moved up to the seventh playoff spot.

This is how the playoff seeding works. At the end of the regular season the 3A teams drop out of the standings and the top eight 4A teams play districts.

Number One V Number Two. Winner is District Champion and number one seed to regionals. Loser of this game plays for second or third seed to regionals.

Number Three V Number Eight. Loser out. Winner plays loser of the district championship with the winner going to regionals as the number two seed and the loser number three.

Number Four V Number Seven. Loser Out. Winner plays one more game for final seed to regionals.

Number Five V Number Six. Loser Out. Winner plays winner of four v seven with loser out and winner number four seed to regionals.