This year the South Hills boys varsity soccer team can make history and get their first 4 peat. After winning the Hacienda League for the past three consecutive years, they have the chance to win the league again this year and get their well deserved 4-peat. After head coach Jason Surrell stepped down, new head coach Demetri Burgos can lead this team to victory.
Tryouts finished mid-September at district field but the JV and varsity teams are planned to be finalized near the start of the season. The first game of the pre-season is scheduled for December 1 and the first official league game is set to start on December 14.
New head coach Demetri Burgos shared his thoughts and feelings about new players coming into the team and the new season ahead of them.
“How am I feeling? Excited cause it’s a new change so now I feel like we get to see new players step up. So I’m a little excited to see what they got to do now. I guess you can say it’s a new era,” coach Demetri said.
Coach Demeri feels comfortable stepping up as head coach considering he’s been with the team for about 4 years now.
“It feels natural. It feels like that’s how it was supposed to be” coach Demetri said.
Coach Demetri’s game plan into the season is to be the best team in the league by training the boys everyday in the offseason to prepare for, what he calls, the “big show.” He expects all the teams the players face to be tough but based on past experiences he expects a couple teams to be more challenging than the rest. Coach Demetri believes that in order for the team to thrive, they need to work on soccer intelligence and play a little better.
Alejandro Garcia (12) is a returning varsity player and has been playing for the boys soccer team since freshman year. He played two years in JV and two years in varsity. Garcia thinks the team has potential to be good or at least better when they get all of their players back from injuries or other sports.
“Considering a lot of players left, I think there is a lot of new opportunities. I think we still have the talent to do a lot of good things this year. I think we [the team] need to work on transitioning from offense to defense and create more opportunities,” Garcia said.
Garcia has been recovering from an herniated disc injury that has prevented him from playing. When he recovers from this injury, he will be one of the few to lead this team to victory, considering he is taking up a bigger role this year. Garcia visualizes playing good and having confidence in himself as well as praying to mentally prepare for these games.
“I think I need to prepare more mentally, be more confident on the field, and play better but more mentally than physically if anything,” Garcia said.
Another returning varsity player, Roberto Barajas (11), believes that this season will be a good one and that the team could win the league and the Troy tournament again. Barajas prepared for this upcoming season by training and playing games, or tournaments, with his club outside of high school. He is also a runner on the cross country team at South Hills High School.
“I think it’s gonna go pretty good [the upcoming season]. I’m a junior now, I’m an upperclassman, I feel like I have more responsibilities. We are already doing full day practices for at least an hour and a half and I feel like this is good to get ready for season. We’re gonna have a smaller team compared to last year so we’ll have to be passing the ball a lot more,” Barajas said.
