Marist ended the boys soccer team’s season with a 4-0 win on Oct. 25 at Marist.
To make conference playoffs, the Huskies had to defeat Marist.
“Marist was pretty tough,” Coach Karl Schmidtman said. “It was a really rainy, cold day; and I thought it might play in our favor. But the weather didn’t bother them at all.”
The Huskies played Marist tough for the first 20 minutes of the game, Coach Schmidtman said, then Marist scored twice on rebounds.
Marist led 3-0 at halftime.
“In the second half, actually we played them very evenly,” Coach Schmidtman said. The Huskies had probably as many shots on goal as Marist, but Marist was the only team to put another goal in on the half.
“They were just a slightly better team than we were,” Coach Schmidtman said.
Coach Schmidtman was pleased with the Huskies’ this year, their best year so far in soccer.
“We got off to a good start,” Coach Schmidtman said. “We had a few lucky breaks here and there, and that helped us get off to a good start.”
All season long, the Huskies played good defense, Coach Schmidtman said. They won all of their games by one goal and didn’t blow anyone out.
The team loses four seniors, Kellen Pedersen, Mark Lewis, Heath Belknap and Mason Lynn.
Lewis and Belknap were team captains.
Lewis was a captain for three years, a great leader and a great hustler, Coach Schmidtman said. “We lose Heath, who had the ability to take over a game. Kellen was just an animal in the box. Any time the ball was in that area, he would go get it.”
Coach Schmidtman is optimistic the team can build on this year’s successes.
“We have a very good, strong junior class this year,” Coach Schmidtman said. Juniors stepped up this year. Among them were Nic Wirth who played excellent defense and midfielder Sean McGuyre, who was good at moving and passing the ball.
Sweet Home High School also has a number of students that he hopes come out next year to provide more depth to the team, adding to the strength of this year’s junior core.
The team is disappointed about not making playoffs, Coach Schmidtman said, but “we’ve never talked about that (playoffs) before. I think that was a nice experience to be in the hunt. I hope that makes them hungrier next year to go out and get into league playoffs.?
“I was very happy with the way we performed this season. It was great working with a great group of guys. We had a lot of fun together. I’m looking for bigger, better things in the future.”