Coach hoping veterans rise up as role models for team
MORGAN HILL — No soccer coach has ever sounded more optimistic after a season-opening 5-0 loss than Ricardo Martinez.
Sobrato’s sixth-year coach admits his Bulldogs have plenty of work to do but he didn’t have to tell them that Tuesday, following their ugly defeat to Division II power St. Francis.
The players themselves spoke up.
Senior defenseman Chris Johnson said the entire team needs to get in shape.
“He said, ‘You know what, guys, we got tired, including myself,'” Martinez recalled during Wednesday’s practice at Sobrato High. “‘We need to push ourselves more at practice.'”
Though the Bulldogs have not set their goals for the 2009-10 season, Martinez sees great potential. His unpolished team has laid the strongest foundation for improvement: blue-collar work ethic.
“I think our attitude is our biggest strength,” Martinez said. “Our skills will come, but I have some guys that work really hard. They never give up, they work hard together, they create opportunities.
“Some of these guys, unfortunately, didn’t play club soccer in the offseason, so their fitness is down now. But we’re working on that.”
The two expectations the Bulldogs spoke about Wednesday are surpassing last year’s record (9-9-2 overall, 6-7-1 Santa Teresa Division) and earning the program’s first trip to the Central Coast Section playoffs. To do so, they need to stay hungry.
That was the biggest problem for the 2008-09 Bulldogs, who won four of their first five league matches before dropping four straight. They rebounded with a 2-0 win over Live Oak, sweeping the season series with the rival Acorns, and finished with a thrilling 3-2 triumph over Willow Glen.
“We picked it up at the end. We finished well, but we need to try harder,” said senior center midfielder Jovani Franco, one of the team’s quiet leaders.
“We got complacent last year,” senior sweeper Cullen Herrington added. “We didn’t fight for the ball as much.
“We’re telling each other to keep driving in practice. Work your hardest.”
Sobrato has experience but will feature a new scheme, having graduated first-team all-league forward Thomas Torres who led the team in goals and assists last winter.
“We were playing with two forwards,” Herrington said. “This year, we’re looking to switch it up at times; use three to be more dangerous on the attack.”
The keyword is possession. Sobrato has a strong backline that can create scoring chances and a frontline that can finish. The newcomers in the midfield, such as sophomores Scott Henningsen and David Mandujano, are holding their own next to veterans.
“We pass the ball well,” Franco said. “It’ll open up more space. We have a lot of speed. We’re very fast.”
Johnson, Franco and Herrington are part of a returning group of 16 varsity veterans that includes 10 seniors. Martinez hopes several of them will step up in place of Torres. Sobrato’s front line, at times, will feature speedsters Adam Guerra and Austin Jackson, Herrington and junior Simon Schmidt, plus last year’s league Freshman of the Year, Shawn Henner. Among returners, Herrington and Jackson led the team in goals with seven last winter.
Junior Ramsis Ghanrawi and sophomore Pedro Mustafa have switched at goalkeeper in place of Schmidt, whose size and speed will help in the field.
“We have great control of the ball, but we need guys to have the skill to finish up top,” Martinez said. “We’re still kind of figuring out a lot of stuff. I want guys to start being role models like Cullen and Jovani. We’ve struggled to have someone take the reins. They’re all buddies out here, no one wants to be a jerk.”
