Mount Si High School boys soccer team seeks to make history
March 15, 2012
By Sebastian Moraga
By Calder Productions Dane Aldrich, in action against Bellevue in 2011. Aldrich and the rest of the Mount Si Wildcats’ boys soccer team, look to turn some heads this year with a senior-heavy squad high on experience and soccer know-how. The season’s first game is 7:30 p.m. March 15 against Issaquah
March 15 can’t get here soon enough for the Mount Si Wildcats boys soccer team.
That is when the team’s 2012 season kicks off with a game against Issaquah. The season might just equal or eclipse the 2010 campaign, according to head coach Darren Brown.
Back then, the Wildcats reached the state quarterfinals. This year, the Wildcats have enough talent, discipline and firepower to make just as much noise.
“There’s a different dynamic to us this year,” Brown said. “We are more like a club team than a high school team, in our passing, our soccer intelligence, our player experience.”
Team co-captain Dane Aldrich agreed, saying that elusive ingredient, chemistry, is also there.
“Everyone is getting along great,” said Aldrich, one of the team’s eight seniors.
Many players, like Kody Clearman and Alex Censullo, actually play on club teams, giving credence to Brown’s comparison.
“Everyone knows the flow of the game,” Aldrich said. “Everyone knows how to play with each other.”
Aldrich has high expectations for the team. He said he would consider the season a success only if the team wins the KingCo Conference and places at state, beating the 2010 finish.
Five players on the team have four years’ worth of varsity experience.
The flip side of so much experience is that if there is noise to make, they need to make it in the next three months. No wait-’til-next-year for this bunch.
“We are graduating some solid seniors,” Brown said, “So they know that the time is now.”
Brown said his job is to slow the team down a little bit, keep the players from looking too far ahead. This group, he said, repeating one of the vintage adages of the sport, has to take it one game at a time.
In the meantime, Brown said he likes what he sees. These boys will fight Mercer Island and perhaps dark horse Sammamish for supremacy in KingCo.
“This is an exciting team,” Brown said. “Kids are working a lot harder this year, chemistry is strong and the boys are focused.”
In 2010, the Wildcats reached state for the second time in history and the first time in 12 years.
They beat Auburn Mountainview 4-0 in the first round, and then lost in the quarterfinals 2-0 to eventual state champ Glacier.
This year, the stakes stand taller. Any result lower than the 2010 campaign would be disappointing, Brown said.
“I think we can do more with this group here,” he said. “I think we can create some magic.”
Sebastian Moraga: 392-6434, ext. 221, or smoraga@snovalleystar.com.
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