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The Rockbridge County High School boys soccer team suffered a pair of nondistrict road losses in its first week of the season, falling 8-0 at Salem on Tuesday of last week before losing 5-0 at Staunton on Friday.
It was the first week under new head coach Michael Kelly, who replaces Scott Youngdahl, the Wildcats’ head coach for the last six years.
Against Salem, which ended the week at 2-0-0, the Wildcats (0-2-0) were shorthanded, with six starters out, leaving only one substitution, junior backup goalkeeper Eliot Mc-Donald, who played a significant amount of time in the field, running a lot.
Evaluating his team’s effort, Kelly said the Spartans gave them more than enough challenges to start the season. “I don’t know why they were put on our schedule, but their skill and talent were far above what we could muster,” he said. “The boys put in a valiant effort, but eventually we ran out of gas and succumbed.”
Kelly said the Wildcats need to work on “defense of corner kicks, being first to the ball, and developing offense from the midfield.”
Staunton 5, RC 0
The Wildcats played better on Friday in a 5-0 loss at Staunton (1-0-1).
“We played well and much better than the score indicated, yet we were unable to sustain any offense,” said Kelly. “Our corner kick defense was better, and we challenged for the ball with more aggressiveness, but it’s still a work in progress.”
Kelly, 52, said he realized when he accepted the job in December that this would be a rebuilding year. Previously, Kelly coached for the Rockbridge United Soccer Club, mostly working with the under-12 and under-16 players, and he knows a lot of the Wildcats’ junior varsity players through coaching the club teams.
Under Youngdahl last year, the Wildcats went 2-12-1 overall and 1-7-0 in the Valley District, only beating Broadway.
From last year’s team, the Wildcats graduated five seniors, led by midfielder Cole Boller-Pinkham, who earned all-district honors.
The Wildcats return six players from last year’s team, including senior goalkeeper John Lindberg, along with senior striker Maddox Jordan, senior defender Micah Mayr, and three juniors: defender Paul Drumbl and midfielders Ethen Camden and Noah Carroll. Mayr is the Wildcats’ captain. “He is the definition of a leader, and all the players respond to him,” said Kelly. “He controls the defense and helps the more inexperienced players on where they should be and how they defend.”
The Wildcats have four seniors, 10 juniors and four sophomores.
Looking at the challenges that he and assistant coaches Brad Stephenson and Bright Fleming, the head JV coach, will face, Kelly said, “I knew when I accepted this position that we were basically starting from the bottom. We can’t expect these kids to compete in a league only when springtime rolls around and be competitive. What’s needed is a change in culture and devotion to fitness and skills training. This begins when the kids are in elementary school and is part of the plan I hope to put in place over my tenure.”
The RC coach hopes that the local middle schools “become a feeder system to the high schools and the kids will be equipped with the skills and work ethic to be successful that we are trying to implement. I have also come to realize that other than x’s and o’s, we as coaches need to prepare these young men to exhibit quality character when they finish their high school career. That is success to me.”
The Wildcats will play their home opener on Friday when they face Staunton, starting with JV action at 5:30 p.m., with the varsity game scheduled to follow at 7.
