LYNNWOOD — In the midst of a successful preseason campaign, Edmonds Community College’s men’s soccer team is looking to emulate last year’s success.
With an impressive 11-1-4 record last season, which kept EdCC atop the Northeast region, teams will be gunning for the region’s standings leader.
“Our goal this year is to hold the cup at the end and defend our home field,” forward Bryce Barker said. “We’re looking good so far. We’ve played a couple of the strong teams in the league and were able to get some good results.”
With more than half of last year’s roster returning, EdCC hopes to be able to build off of player progression.
“A strong defensive core is coming back and we have a lot of experienced players that have played at high levels,” Barker said. “I think we should be able to play pretty well as a team, we’re pretty cohesive.”
Part of the preparation for the season has included a stringent exercise program instilled by coach Eddie Fernandez.
“Our coach makes us run a loop, which is a mile and a half,” Barker said. “Our coach makes us run this before practice every day, and sometimes after practice as well.”
The team has also been running more practices than usual.
“We conditioned really hard for the first two or three weeks,” captain Damon Perot said. “We did two-a-days for the first tryout weeks, and it really killed us. Now its leveled off and we’re really in peak shape right now.
“We’re pretty well ahead of the other teams as far as conditioning is concerned,” mid-fielder Garrett Heinemann said.
Also favoring EdCC this year will be the return of a balanced and deep roster.
“Skill wise, we control the ball a lot better than most other teams do,” Heinemann said. “A lot of other teams don’t have the well-rounded play that we do in every position from keeper to forward.”
Captain Damon Perot said the core of last year’s defense will be returning with more experience.
“Our strength is solid defense, we’ve got a tight midfield,” Perot said.
Captain John Sanguinet said, “Yeah, our strength is definitely our team defense, not necessarily our back four, but overall defense as a whole.”
As far as any weaknesses, the team feels eligibility might get in the way of adding depth to the roster.
“Our biggest weakness is that we have two ineligible players. Hopefully we can get them up,” Perot said. “We’re petitioning their eligibility right now.”
According to the coaches poll, EdCC is picked to finish at the top of the Northeast region, along with North Idaho and Spokane.
“We want to take the league definitely, in first place, and then head into the playoffs with a solid team,” Perot said.
But EdCC isn’t expecting a free ride to the top this year.
“The league is pretty strong overall,” Heinemann said. “A couple of the weak teams from last year have gotten a lot stronger and are a lot more competitive this year.”
EdCC plays Spokane tonight 7 p.m. (Friday, Sept. 24) at Lynnwood High School and Walla Walla on Saturday (Sept. 25) 4 p.m. at the same location.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
