Following the success of last year’s soccer seasons, the Durant girls’ and boys’ soccer teams have been working hard to prepare for the 2009 season. After star seniors graduated last year, both teams are dealing with replacing the talent they lost.
While some teams would not be able to recuperate from such heavy losses, the Durant boys’ and girls’ soccer teams are running full speed to score again this season.
“This year we will score more; we relied on defense last year. [I feel] this is the first chance we have for Regionals in a long time,” said girls’ coach Richard Sheffield.
Sheffield is a seasoned soccer coach; he’s been running the team since day one in 1995 at Durant. He has five soccer plaques and one State Championship in his office.
“I’d love to see States again,” he said.
As the girls face their biggest competitors -- East Bay High School and Newsome High School -- in the upcoming season, they are ready to dominate again with their speed and technical skills.
“East Bay didn’t score a goal on us once last year. We played them for 90 minutes and they did not score a single goal,” said Sheffield.
Although the team is strong across the board, what really sets the girls’ team apart from the rest is their goalkeeper, junior Megan Fox.
“She’s in a position to stand out,” said Sheffield.
As a goalie, she is in one of the most unique positions and has been known to make some spectacular, and at the same time graceful saves, according to sweeper Jessie Ross, junior.
One change Sheffield is incorporating this year is that at every home game, one team member is allowed to ask a teacher or other staff member to be an honorary coach to sit on the sidelines during the game.
“I asked my English teacher Mrs. Martin because I want her to better understand why I am always so busy,” said Ross.
If the girls continue to rely on their strong midfield and improving offense, their chances of a victorious season are high, according to Sheffield.
On the opposite end of the gender field, the boys’ team is also facing difficulties in replacing players from last year, after losing all four starting defenders.
This season the team has a lot of young, new players.
“We have five or six new starters who are young guys,” said coach Jamin Hollingsworth.
Thus, the biggest difference between last year and this year is experience on the field.
Freshmen Danny Bowers and Ben Eisenhauer are very excited to play for Durant this year. Playing since they were toddlers, both center midfielders note that high school soccer is different from playing club or league soccer.
“It’s rougher,” said Eisenhauer. “We’re playing against bigger kids who are seniors.”
Among the returning players is senior Billy Fanning, a forward who has signed to play with Florida Gulf Coast University next year. Juniors David Eisenhauer, midfielder, and Connor Bass, goalkeeper, are also some strong players who started last year. The team will need to rely on the experience of the returning players combined with the fresh talent of newcomers to win against their biggest competitor, Bloomingdale Senior High School. The team tied against BSHS in their game against them this year.
Both teams expect to see a winning season.
Bass said, “We dominated last season; [this year] we don’t have as many seniors, but we’ll still do fine.”
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