The Warren Central boys soccer team is trying to live up to last year's season. Last year, the team made a run to the county semi-finals and hopes to accomplish similar feats again.
“We want to compete in the MIC. We want to be able to put a couple points on the board,” assistant coach Austin Abbett said.
The team is focused more on growth right now due to their young team so that they can do big things in the coming years.
“Of course we want to win along the way, but with so many young players on the varsity team, there is a lot of growth that will happen along the way. We're also really excited to have a large JV team and a C team which will benefit our program in the long term as well,” head coach Robbie Pels said.
Players are still getting to know each other, so that they can have better communication as the season moves along.
“As the year progresses, hopefully we can build some more chemistry, some better passing, and hopefully by sectionals [we] will be ready to go and ready to win some games,” senior goalkeeper José Davalos said.
The Warriors have a lot of skill in the goalkeeper position, between Davalos and junior Julian Patton, which will prove helpful as the team plays teams that are better and better.
“I am absolutely thrilled to see what this keeper battle looks like between Julian and José all season,” Abbett said.
When it comes to the postseason, the team has created goals in order to have everybody on the same page heading into those games.
“The team came up with a few goals we hoped to achieve over the course of the season and most of those built towards tournament time. So it was nice to see that we all understand we need to get better and better over the course of the season and be ready for tournament play. The whole regular season is about getting better for us, building our team chemistry, and playing together as a team. By the time we get to the state tournament, we will be firing on all cylinders and ready to push for a sectional title and even further,” Pels said.
The Warriors, who play in the largest and hardest conference in the state, the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference (MIC), have to play games against very competitive teams, and are trying to create a culture in which they can compete with them.
“We want to build a culture of excellence and a winning mentality. We do that by just creating a culture of being accepted and knowing that these guys are working with you and alongside you and putting in the same battle every day that you are. And by just kind of having a bond amongst players, I think we can start to push for things that seem unachievable. We can kind of fight through the fire grind and then maybe come out the other end with some points,” Abbett said.
Culture is a big part of this team. With people coming from all different backgrounds to play soccer, the team has a great time creating new experiences that will help them have a good time together.
“I'd be remiss to say I wasn't excited for the Whitetland game. That's [Hispanic] Heritage Month. That's always a fun event. It's always good to acknowledge culture when, when your culture is a big part of your program,” Abbett said.