Sports

Boys soccer team faces adversity after loss of seniors

Mary Earp
October 5, 2012

Varsity Boys Soccer team is encountering problems this season due to graduation of seniors. With only one win so far this season, the team needs to work on its chemistry, according to Greg Bean, head coach.

“We only returned four returning starters from last year,” Bean said. ‘Finding the right players for the right positions and developing team chemistry is taking much longer than usual.”

One of the team’s biggest challenges has been the loss of Hugo Rhoades, Class of 2012, because of his physical and emotional height, according to Alec Nakano, senior center midfielder.

“The loss of leadership has been a deep and hard blow to a struggling team,” Nakano said.

Bean has also seen this loss of leadership hit the team hard. “Lots of really strong leaders left us with fewer guys who have leadership experience,” Bean said.

Despite the loss of seniors, Nakano and Bean agree that the team has also seen many new faces with promising futures.

“We have two freshmen who are starting,” Bean said. “Zach Nelson is in goal and Colton Hefty is in midfield. Lucas Evans, defense, and Jake Bray, midfield, are also two sophomores who are giving us valuable minutes. As younger players, they are going to be counted on as the future of our program.”

As the team looks further into the season, Nakano said that they are hoping to “Be the best that [they] can be.” The team lost its first three games of the season by one point, but they finally won the Oct. 2 game against Clackamas with a score of 3-2. With this record in mind, according to Nakano, the only question now is “what’s next?”

Donate to wlhsNOW

$145

$500

Contributed

Our Goal

Your donation will support the student journalists of West Linn High School. Your contribution will allow us to continue to produce quality content by purchasing equipment, software, and continuing to host our website on School Newspapers Online (SNO).

About the Contributor

Mary Earp, Co Editor-in-chief

Perfectionist, outgoing and busy are just three of the many words that describe Mary Earp, senior. Earp heard about Amplifier from her eighth grade English teacher, and has been a part of the staff since her freshman year. Currently, she is one of the three Co-Editors-in-chiefs of the paper. Most people have goals that they would like to pursue in their life, and this is a true statement for Earp as well. “I want to be a doctor, and I know this sounds cheesy, but I would really like to make a difference in the world,” Earp said. After high school, her hopes include attending either Pomona College or University of California, Berkeley. Outside of school, Earp has a very hectic life which includes playing co-ed soccer, being a member of the school Mock Trial team and being the President of National Honor Society. She is traveling to New York in late October for an international Mock Trial Competition, Empire, where she is assigned to present the closing argument and both direct and cross examinations for the trial. Some highlights of Earp’s summer were hanging out with friends and taking a vacation to North Carolina, where she visited family and spent some time at the warm sunny beach. If Earp could visit any place two places in the world, she would choose “Italy and Machu Picchu, Peru, because the scenery is beautiful,” Earp said. Her favorite year in high school so far was junior year. “It challenged me the most and broadened my horizons,” Earp said. So far in her senior year, the class Earp most enjoys is AP Environmental Science, “It’s very interesting, enlightening, and I have a great teacher,” Earp said. Earp’s senior year is packed with AP Environmental Science, AP Calculus BC and AP English, leaving her with a long night of work to complete. The most challenging part of taking these classes “is all of the work involved,” Earp said. So far, her last year in high school has been hectic and full of work, yet she is excited and looking forward to all of the opportunities that lie ahead in her future.