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Posts Tagged ‘boys soccer’

Pitch perfect, even at rest

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on April 15, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Derek Leyva was set to make a run at the CHS soccer career scoring record before the COVID-19 pandemic erased the season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Abraham Leyva keeps his Coupeville High School soccer career scoring record.

That was in doubt until the COVID-19 pandemic erased spring sports before any games could be played.

Denied their senior seasons, Abraham’s cousin Derek (38 goals) and younger brother Aram (29) won’t catch the first Leyva, who hit the back of the net 45 times in three seasons.

As we contemplate a lost season, a look at the players and coaches who were primed to make a run on the pitch this spring.

The 2020 edition of Wolf soccer would have featured …

 

Aiden Anderson
Owen Barenburg
Aiden Burdge
Chris Cernick
Miles Davidson
Sage Downes
Dakota Eck
Brandon Epp
Tony Garcia
Zach Ginnings
Daylon Houston
Alex Jimenez
Michael Langille
Michael Laska
Alberto Leyva
Aram Leyva
Derek Leyva
Jonathan Partida
Kevin Partida
Grant Steller
Mitchell Summers
Hunter Wilkinson
James Wood
Tate Wyman
Sam Wynn

Kyle Nelson (Head Coach)
Michael Barenburg (Assistant Coach)
Reese Cernick (Assistant Coach)
Robert Wood (Assistant Coach)

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Soccer, in a time of transition

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , on April 2, 2020| Leave a Comment »

Owen Barenburg (13) and other Coupeville High School boys soccer players will play in the fall, and not the spring, starting next school year. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

OK, now stay with me on this.

With Coupeville High School slated to drop from 1A to 2B next school year, the Wolves will bounce from the 1A North Sound Conference to the Northwest 2B/1B League in the fall.

The change in classifications and league will offer new challenges to every CHS sports program, but boys soccer will likely face the biggest upheaval.

The Wolf booters are currently sidelined by the coronavirus pandemic, waiting to see if they will play a compressed spring schedule in May, or if Washington state schools (and prep sports) will be shut down for good until fall.

Of course, a return in fall is still, like everything else in the world, a maybe.

But keeping a positive outlook, if things are back up and going then, Coupeville’s boys soccer program will make the jump not only from one league and classification to another, but one season to another.

While 1A boys soccer is played in the spring, 2B schools play the sport in the fall, sharing field space with girls soccer and football.

Coupeville’s soccer programs share a head coach in Kyle Nelson. With one team in the fall and another in the spring, that’s worked fine.

Whether he would try and balance both jobs in the same season, or if a new coach will be hired for one of the teams, is unknown at this point.

What’s also unknown is how the jump will affect the roster, as the move will give CHS four boys sports in the fall, with soccer competing against football, tennis, and cross country for athletes.

When they do hit the field, the Wolf boys will have a new set of league foes, and the lineup won’t look exactly like the one most other CHS squads will face.

Five of the eight Northwest League teams — 2B schools La Conner, Friday Harbor, and Coupeville, and 1B schools Mount Vernon Christian and Orcas Island — have active boys soccer program.

That leaves Concrete, Darrington, and, apparently, Chimacum, on the sideline.

To fill the gap, the NWL schools pick up four schools from the 1B Northwest League (similar name, different conference) to make a patchwork nine-team boys soccer league.

Having six of nine teams be 1B is not that big of a deal, though, since 2B and 1B are compressed together when it comes to the state tournament.

The 1B schools from the outlying league are Lopez, Grace Academy from Marysville, Providence Classical Christian from Bothell, and Cedar Park Christian-Mountlake Terrace.

While it’s part of a group of affiliated private schools, CPC-MTL is not the same as CPC-Bothell, which has been one of Coupeville’s rivals in the North Sound Conference.

So, who’s the team(s) to beat?

Based on last season, it’s Orcas Island, which won its second-straight league crown, and league runner-up Friday Harbor. Both teams fell in the first round at state in fall 2019.

But don’t count out Providence, which captured the conference title in 2017.

Or Mount Vernon Christian, which won five-straight titles between 2012-2016, with 2012 being the farthest back the NWL web site has records.

The MVC Hurricanes finished in the top two every year between 2012 and 2018, until “crashing” to a 6-6 mark last fall.

So, while realizing there still might be tweaks between now and September, an early look at what could play out in the fall:

 

2020 CHS boys soccer schedule (Fall)
(* = league game):

Tues-Sept. 8 — Friday Harbor (6:00) *
Thur-Sept. 10 — @Providence Classical Christian (3:30) *
Fri-Sept. 11 — La Conner (6:00) *
Tues-Sept. 15 — Mount Vernon Christian (6:00) *
Fri-Sept. 18 — @Orcas Island (3:00) *
Tues-Sept. 22 — Cedar Park Christian-MLT (6:00) *
Mon-Sept. 28 — Grace Academy (6:00) *
Wed-Sept. 30 — Lopez (6:00) *
Tues-Oct. 6 — @Friday Harbor (4:30) *
Fri-Oct. 9 — @La Conner (4:00) *
Mon-Oct. 12 — @Mount Vernon Christian (4:00) *
Wed-Oct. 14 — Orcas Island (6:00) *
Fri-Oct. 16 — @Cedar Park Christian-MTL (4:15) *
Tues-Oct. 20 — Providence Classical Christian (6:00) *
Fri-Oct. 23 — @Grace Academy (3:30) *
Tues-Oct. 27 — @Lopez (3:00) *

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Ready for action

Posted in Baseball, Boys Soccer, Girls Tennis, Softball, Track, tagged , , , , , , , on March 26, 2020| Leave a Comment »

CHS varsity softball leads off a group of pics shot earlier this spring. (Photos by JohnPhotos.net)

Wolf track and field fills up the bleachers.

Varsity soccer takes the field.

Baseball claims the diamond.

JV softball, ready to pile up the runs.

JV soccer defends its net.

Tennis is on point.

The season is on hiatus, but the photos have been snapped.

With the coronavirus pandemic having forced the closure of Washington state schools, Coupeville athletes sit and wait to see if they will get to chase their spring dreams.

But back before the shutdown, wanderin’ paparazzi John Fisken bounced from field to field and captured the team pics seen above.

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“I will live my impossible dream”

Posted in Boys Soccer, Student Voices, tagged , , , , on March 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

The coronavirus has delayed Chris Cernick’s senior soccer season, but he continues to work hard every day. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

With Washington state schools closed down for at least six weeks due to the spread of coronavirus, we’re offering all Coupeville students a chance to be heard and stay connected.

Chris Cernick is a senior at CHS who plays soccer and basketball.

 

All my life I always had dreams, but never anything that I stuck to until my 8th grade year.

It was an impossible dream I used to call it.

It was a dream that my heart and soul depended on.

You see I had never really been so deeply connected with one idea, one sport and one dream.

I started playing soccer my 8th grade year due to the help of my dad starting a coed rec team that still runs today.

My dad was my first ever coach and the one to really stir me towards my dream.

I remember the first day of practice he gave out soccer homework and I just laughed thinking if I hate school homework then why would I like soccer homework!

So I went on throughout that whole season not doing the homework and did not do as well as I would have liked to.

Well one day I got bored and decided to try the homework because I had nothing better to do.

To my surprise I enjoyed it and once I started I couldn’t stop.

This is the day I will remember for the rest of my life, this is the day I decided to take on my impossible dream.

After this day I started training every day for up to two hours a day till the end of my 8th grade year.

Then I decided to start watching videos on YouTube and watch soccer games, so I could learn from the masters.

In the summer I started training up to four hours a day and was starting to see huge improvement.

I went from 30 juggles with a soccer ball all the way to 100 by my freshman year, but I wasn’t quite at the varsity level yet.

I lacked game experience and fell under pressure every time I played.

Then my sophomore year came around and I was at 1,000 juggles and fairly confident with the ball, but not enough for varsity.

I played JV instead and scored two goals in one game and was one of the only players to score at all in the entire season, along with Jonathan Partida, who scored one as a defender.

That game was the first JV win in a long time and it was finally where I came out of my comfort zone a lot more.

It came at the end of the JV season and to my surprise Coach Nelson wanted me to move up for the playoffs.

I played a few minutes in each of the games and was just happy to get the game experience.

During the next summer I was determined to make varsity and I knew the only way I could do that is if I found some game experience.

So I started playing with adults in Oak Harbor who at the time were quite a challenge.

I would go every Tuesday and Wednesday of my junior year and still manage to practice about two to three hours a day.

My junior soccer season came and I finally had made that next step up by not just making the varsity team, but starting as well.

At the end of the season I had two goals, one assist, and a lot of fun.

After this season, I decided that the next step up would be college level soccer, and with this I knew I had to start making sacrifices.

I quit my job and stopped hanging out with my friends as much to devote all I had towards my dream.

I joined a select team in South Whidbey and met a very inspiring coach who had been a semi-pro.

I learned a lot of things during that short season and became a completely different player.

While doing this I was still putting in 2-4 hours a day and when I didn’t have practice I started putting in from 6-10 hours a day.

Fast forward to my senior season and I am ready to play college and just a completely different player all together.

If you saw me last year to now it is like a night and day difference. My confidence is at another level as for my skill, strength and speed.

Then the virus comes in and I think of it as just another obstacle in the way of my dream.

You see without sacrifices there can be no victory.

I see this sacrifice as just another opportunity to push me towards achieving my dream. I’m putting in the work and practicing eight hours a day over this brief obstacle that keeps me from my senior season.

My whole life I have had people tell me my dream is impossible and to get with the so-called program of life, but here I am now putting everything into this dream because I believe it is possible.

I may not be the best, but I guarantee, there is no one on this Island who puts in as much work as I do.

That’s the difference between a pro and a semi-pro.

In order to do something impossible, you have to do what others won’t.

Some people say I don’t have a life because all I do is practice, but in order to achieve greatness, you have to sacrifice who you are for who and what you will become.

Anybody who has told me my dreams are impossible have already given up on their own and these people who once had dreams are not living life, but are slaves to their own lives.

Soccer is my passion and it’s what gets me through my life, so I’m going to continue to take the impossible route then just settle for the easy comfortable route.

I will live my impossible dream.

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They made the net pop

Posted in Boys Soccer, tagged , , , , , on February 24, 2020| Leave a Comment »

James Wood has tallied six goals during his CHS soccer career. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)

Spoiler alert: a Leyva shall likely rule them all.

But which Leyva?

With the start of a new Coupeville High School boys soccer season a week away, all eyes return to our (at least partially complete) career scoring list, and the three-way battle for supremacy atop that chart.

The CHS booters debuted in 2004, and as we prep for the 2020 season, the top three scorers all hail from the same family.

The graduated Abraham Leyva tallied 45 goals in his three years on the Coupeville pitch, while his cousin Derek (38) and younger brother Aram (29) are both chasing his legacy heading into their senior season.

After a brief detour in which Derek left CHS after his junior year, he’s back attending school in Cow Town, and is eligible to play this spring, according to Wolf Athletic Director Willie Smith.

That reignites a chase for the career record, though the Leyva cousins are not the only active players who can add to their totals.

There are nine Wolves who can both play this spring, and have already scored at least one varsity goal for the program.

And, a brief note of caution — as you scan the career scoring list below, no one is claiming it is 100% correct, as goal-scoring from the early seasons of the program have been surprisingly hard to track.

The local newspapers just flat-out did a horrible job of documenting who scored in the early 2000’s, so it’s very likely players such as Jon Chittim and Geoff Wacker should have higher totals.

But, until someone pops up with some reputable CHS soccer stats from a time when Shakira captivated the nation with Hips Don’t Lie, this is what we have.

 

(Semi-realistic) CHS boys soccer all-time goal-scoring chart:

Abraham Leyva — 45
Derek Leyva — 38 — **ACTIVE**
Aram Leyva — 29 — **ACTIVE**
William Nelson — 20
Ethan Spark — 17
Zane Bundy — 11
Mike Duke — 10
Micah Einterz — 10
Geoff Wacker — 10
Jon Chittim — 9
Sebastian Davis — 8
Sean Donley — 7
Sage Downes — 7 — **ACTIVE
Zack Nall — 6
James Wood — 6 — **ACTIVE**
Jeremy Copenhaver — 5
Hunter Downes — 5
Sam Wynn — 5 — **ACTIVE**
Nathan Lamb — 4
Greg Mottet — 4
Tony Sherman — 4
Evan Bailey — 3
Colin Belliveau — 3
Chris Cernick — 3 — **ACTIVE**
Pedro Gamarra — 3
Tom Rogers — 3
Jaren Tso — 3
Joel Walstad — 3
Josh Wilsey — 3
Taylor Anthony — 2
Jack Armstrong — 2
Andre Avila — 2
Will Butela — 2
Garrett Compton — 2
Tyler Harvey — 2
Uriel Liquidano — 2
JT Quinn — 2
Justin Adams — 1
Eli Berggren — 1
Laurence Boado — 1
Cameron Boyd — 1
Josiah Campbell — 1
Tony Garcia — 1 — **ACTIVE**
Zach Hauser — 1
Tanner Kircher — 1
Jason Leavitt — 1
Garrit Manker — 1
Cody Menges — 1
Xavier Murdy — 1 — **ACTIVE**
Loren Nelson — 1
Jonathan Partida — 1 — **ACTIVE**
Ehren Phillips — 1
Matt Scott — 1
Spencer Tack — 1
Zeb Williams — 1

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