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.