The Meadowdale boys soccer team hasn’t had the most successful preseason.
But first-year head coach Don Nelson isn’t too worried that the Mavericks have won only one of their first five games.
Injuries to four starters have hampered Meadowdale, but Nelson expects the Mavericks to be a decent team once everyone is healthy.
Nelson, who coached at Meadowdale and Edmonds Community College in the 1990s, also is installing his system, which is taking some time.
“We’re not real good in terms of wins and losses but I’ve seen improvement,” Nelson said. “We’ve got some seniors and a lot of new guys. I’m happy with the progress.”
Three of the top players are senior co-captains Sam Werner, Spencer Walior and Daniel Kwon. Werner leads a fairly experienced defense that includes senior goalkeeper Kenneth Hill and senior Brenden Howell.
Hill is a solid goalkeeper.
“He’s been playing fantastic. … He’s a flyer who gets to most of the balls, those that are hard to touch” Nelson said. “He gets in good position and puts his hands on it.”
The offense with Walior will be bolstered once Kwon returns from an injury. The midfield has some experience in assistant captain Solomon Stewart.
While the seniors have varsity experience, many of the other players are moving up from junior varsity.
So far everyone is receptive to Nelson’s approach to the game.
“I think they get it,” he said. “They’re starting to come around. There are some great potential players.”
Nelson prefers what he describes as a short game.
“We like to build up and try to get the balls up to the forwards,” he said. “It’s different new formation as far as attacking and defending,”
Meadowdale has both speed and size.
Walior looks to be one of the fastest players in the league and the Mavericks’ defense has good overall size, Nelson said.
“I think we’re going to do better than we did in the preseason,” he added.
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
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