After downing Valley Catholic 2-1 and Pleasant Hill 8-1 last week, Sweet Home is on a 3-0 winning streak to start the season in boys soccer, its best start in the history of the program.
The Huskies started the season by defeating Creswell 4-3 on Sept. 2, the first time ever they’ve won their season opener.
On Sept. 8, they traveled to Pleasant Hill, and they hosted Valley Catholic on Friday.
It’s not the best season yet. The best previous season was 2004-05 under Coach Karl Schmidtman, when the team recorded four wins and a tie. They missed playoffs by one game. The Huskies will need to win two more games to finish better than that season.
The Huskies scored 15 goals that year. They’ve scored 14 goals in three games this season.
Coach Eric Stutzer, who has been involved in the program at different levels since it started in 1998-99, is proud of his team and its accomplishments already this season; but he cautions his players against cockiness.
The Huskies were third in Oregon Student Activities Association rankings, but he wants his team to avoid focusing on the rankings, statistics and records.
The rankings can change quickly this early in the season, he said, and the Huskies need to focus one game at a time to achieve their goal of winning a playoff berth this year.
This week, they face tough competition in Newport, scheduled for Tuesday, and Sisters at home on Thursday.
“I think their extremely excited,” Stutzer said. “I think they’re still level-headed about the whole thing. We can’t allow ourselves to get cocky. We can’t allow pride into the mix.”
But Stutzer said he’s congratulating them and that he’s proud of them.
It’s come with a great cost, Stutzer said. Rawlins Lupoli, right midfield wing, put his foot into a “gopher hole” and broke his leg during the game. He’ll be out for the season.
“A good player, he’s a starter,” Stutzer said. “So that’s going to be really hurtful for us down the line.”
Fortunately, Sweet Home is deep this year, Stutzer said, so he remains optimistic.
“There’s a number of players that can fill that position,” Stutzer said. His brother, Rowland Lupoli, will probably move to his position.
Oscar Hernandez was also injured and will be out for three weeks.
A number of factors have played into the win streak, Stutzer said. “I think the early win gave us a lot of confidence.”
The team unity is different this year, he said. They’re playing like a brotherhood.
That’s clear when considering just how much adversity this team has already faced, with four players dealing with injuries, including Rawlins Lupoli, Hernandez, Rodgers and Perez.
“It just shows how strong their pack mentality has become,” Stutzer said. The senior leadership and better conditioning are also factors, and they’ve showed.
The team has been dedicated to soccer, Stutzer said. He pointed to Fry, who never let the ball off his foot for more than two minutes in the off season.
Stutzer continues to credit the previous coach, Ryan Regrutto, for helping lay the foundation for this team’s success. He was one of the best coaches in Sweet Home soccer history even though it didn’t show in the win-loss records.
Valley Catholic was a tough game, Stutzer said. After the first few minutes, it turned defensive.
Ramon Fry scored 15 minutes into the game on a shot right in front of the box, ripping it past the goalie.
“It was just a great play on his part,” Stutzer said.
Valley Catholic quickly responded to tie the game 1-1.
“Their guy pushed our defender down and the ref didn’t call him on it,” Stutzer said, letting him drive the ball into the net.
Later, after he “got creamed,” Alonso Perez missed a penalty kick, Stutzer said. He pulled Perez off the field and sent senior Nick Rodgers, first-team all-league last year, onto the field for the first time this year.
Rodgers, who has been recovering from an injury, dribbled the ball up the field past about four Valley Catholic players and scored it, Stutzer said. Stutzer left him in the game for just five minutes.
He went onto the field “cold turkey,” Stutzer said. “That shows what kind of caliber he is.”
It shows his leadership ability, Stutzer said. “He stepped it up and just took the leadership on himself.”
The Huskies led 2-1 at halftime. No one scored during the rest of the game.
Goalie Nic Dishaw had 10 saves on the game.
At Pleasant Hill, “right out of the gate, I think it was Ramon Fry who ended up with the first goal,” Stutzer said. “Alonso Perez ripped in the second one.”
The Huskies led 2-0 at halftime. He told the Huskies he wanted to see them score five goals on the game. Perez put in another goal two minutes into the game, Egan Shamek four minutes in and Fry another five minutes in. Shamek and Perez scored one more each for a hat trick.
Pleasant Hill scored on a defensive error with just five to eight minutes left on the game, Stutzer said. Dishaw came out of the box, and the opposing forward slipped past him to put the ball in.
Rowland Lupoli played keeper in the first half, recording 12 saves. Dishaw had about eight saves in the second half.
The Huskies were scheduled to travel to Newport and play at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. They host Sisters with games beginning at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. They will travel to Sutherlin on Tuesday, with games beginning at 4:30 p.m.