The boy’s varsity soccer team has recently scored their way into greatness in their recent tournament. The boys were able to win the Bohdie Larson Celebration Classic through their teamwork, dedication, and ability to adapt to challenges.

Andrew Lang has been the varsity coach for the last 5 years. He has had a large amount of experience on the field through coaching boy’s JV for 5 years and girl’s varsity for 6 years. This season, Lang describes that the boys have performed very well. At the time of the interview, the team maintained a .500 record. Lang described this as a definite improvement from last season. Lang’s primary focus is on strengthening the team as a whole, and sees a bright future with the current players on the team.

Both Lang and senior captain Josh Heinz commented on the talent of the freshman players on the team. Lang is hopeful that these new players will carry on a strong future for the seasons to come. Lang and Hinze both mentioned freshman, Conor Geraghty, who has been a major asset to the team in scoring goals.

“Some of the freshman talent out there is exciting to watch,” Lang stated. “They play hard every single game.”

The boys put lots of work and time into each practice, working for 2 hours, Monday through Friday. Each practice covers a variety of skills including personal, technical, and tactical. The players are able to individually assess where they stand and find ways to get better. As a team, they focus on the game plan for the field, working as a team, and correcting mistakes. Lang tries to incorporate a variety of these skills in each practice to help fully equip his players.

Lang mentioned that some major highlights from the season has been one of his freshman players scoring a hat trick in a couple of games,  and receiving more goals from his center midfielder. Lang also stated that there have been a few mistakes defensively, but overall the defense is a very strong core group.

Before each game, Hinez described that his roles as a captain include getting everyone hyped up and making the chemistry work between the players. Lang described that Heinz, and other senior captain, Liam Engerholm have both done a wonderful job on the field.

There was no qualification necessary to compete in the tournament. Lang wanted to sign the team up for this one in particular to help get them back into shape after a long winter break. Leading up to the tournament, teams were split up into 4 different divisions: platinum, gold, silver, and bronze. The boys were placed in the second gold division, making 12 total teams playing.

The boys brought home a winning plaque by taking 2 out of the 3 games. They lost against Shadow Ridge when they surprised the boys with an interesting tactic. Lang describes that the opponents had “parked the bus” on them, making it nearly impossible to score.

“They call it ‘parking the bus’ because imagine if you put Greyhound busses across the field and trying to score a goal around that,” Lang said.

Unfortunately, the boys lost 0-1; however, they were able to practice getting around that tricky situation if ever placed into it again.

The team was able to take the other two games against Peoria and Mesquite. During the Peoria game, the teams were tied 1-1 at the final whistle, which led to penalty kicks in order to settle a win. Lang described how two of his goalkeepers were out sick or injured, so back up keeper, Rehan Zafar, stepped in, saving 2 of the 3 goals taken. Upon Ridge’s penalty kicks, each of the 4 shooters managed to put their goals in, bringing a win of 4-0. The following day, the boys played Mesquite in the finals, and brought home a 3-0 win.

“It’s [the win] great! It’s the first time that Mountain Ridge boy’s soccer has won any kind of hardware in probably 12 years or so. So a long, long time,” Lang said.

For the next four weeks, the boys will be up against some very strong teams every Tuesday and Friday. This past Tuesday, they played against Westview, and will have a sectional play coming up next. The goal is to continue their .500 streak, in order to get into the state tournament.

The boys continue their season with big games against OC, Liberty and Chaparral before their final home game (and senior night) against Boulder Creek.