On Tues., March 4, after the final day of soccer tryouts, 24 boys were given the reward of their hard work: making the varsity soccer team. For the first time in nine years, the team will be under the direction of Physical Education teacher Paul Rath.

“I’m very excited coming back. It was time. I’m a coach at heart. I love it, I love the sport, and I really love developing players in the sport and seeing them actually continue their soccer careers after high school. It’s a passion,” Rath said. Following in previous coach Ted Erickson’s footsteps, Rath plans on taking a different approach with his players.

“I’m a very disciplined coach, I focus a lot on fundamentals, conditioning, and all of my practices are geared to the system that we’re going to play during the year. There’s nothing frivolous about it. So I expect the attention of my guys for two, two-and-a-half hours for that time period, and if I don’t get it, there will be consequences,” Rath said.

With these high expectations of his players, Rath sees strong potential in his team, despite the lack of any outdoor training thus far.

“We just finished tryouts last night, and, due to the weather, we really haven’t had our first team practice. But looking at the roster, I think we’re going to be a very strong team. There’s gonna be a little bit of a learning curve for the guys because they’re going to be playing a new system, and even though I’ve coached before, I still have to get back into that rhythm of coaching again, so when those two things come together, we’re gonna be a pretty good team,” Rath said.

The change in coaching will be most evident to players like senior Willy Velasco, who have played on the varsity team for four years. However, Velasco has expressed praise for Rath’s style so far.

“I feel like this year, we might be able to work as a team better with the way that he’s setting up the team,” Velasco said. When it comes to the team’s future, Velasco has one specific goal in mind.

“Hopefully, this year we’ll go to states,” Velasco said. Last year’s team lost in the second match of the regional competition.

Velasco believes that this year will be good for the team because the 24 members of the team are all very skilled.

“I saw that it was really hard for him to choose [the roster]. We have talented players, so it was hard for him to choose who was going to be on the team or not. One of the things that we won’t be able to know is who’s going to start, who’s not going to start,” Velasco said.

One of the nine new faces on the team is sophomore Roberto Gonzalez-Cavazos, who played for the junior varsity team last year.

“[When I heard that I made it,] I was very excited. I’m proud of myself and proud of the team that we’ll have this year,” Gonzalez-Cavazos said. Of his goals, he mainly wants to improve his footwork and passing skills.

“I want to work hard every day so that I can get to be a starter, and from there, keep going up,” Gonzalez-Cavazos says.

The full roster is listed below:

Senior Mohamed Jumaa, goalkeeper

Junior Walter Barahona-Gonzalez, defender/midfielder

Senior Bayron Lobo-Zelaya, goalkeeper

Senior Jackson Taylor, forward

Junior Jetzon Matute, defender/midfielder

Senior Willy Velasco, defender/midfielder

Junior Jose Gonzalez-Cavazos, midfielder

Sophomore Roberto Gonzalez-Cavazos, midfielder

Junior Mario Murillo, midfielder

Senior Luis Vargas, forward

Junior Herberth Chavez, defender/midfielder

Senior Manny Chavez, defender/midfielder

Junior Adony Reyes-Hernandez, midfielder

Junior Abner Johnson, midfielder

Senior Carlos Pulido, midfielder

Junior Parker Strickland, defender

Sophomore Juan Perez-Cardoso, defender

Junior Eric Alvarez, goalkeeper

Sophomore Ameer Idan, defender/midfielder

Freshman Mario Lagos, defender/midfielder

Junior Jesus Mercado-Mendez, defender/midfielder

Freshman Cristian Ruiz, defender/midfielder

Junior Alex Sosa Ramirez, defender

Junior Jose Saavedra, goalkeeper