By Chris Moffitt
The winter days of tired feet, scraped knees, sore foreheads, and rewarding post-game chocolate milk have returned as Tempe Prep’s varsity men’s soccer team once again tries their foot skills and endurance on the field.
The team is looking strong and has high hopes for the season. As a Senior Captain Hanley Carter says, “We only lost one senior from last year and are coming out with good experience and our playoff hopes are very high.” The team is still very young though and, as Coach Sale points out, “We are starting sophomores and juniors and even a freshman in the goal [and] we only have four returning seniors.”
The team also has a new Assistant Head Coach, Adam Potter, a Northwestern College graduate and soccer alumnus. As Hanley says, “The arrival of Coach Potter and his expertise has helped our team focus on the details of the game.” Coach Potter is also bringing a number of goals to the team besides just making the playoffs. He hopes “to help turn this team into a contender every time our guys step on the field … to create men of character by having my guys not just do what they need to accomplish on the field but to do what they’re suppose to do in the classroom, on campus, and in the community … and to create a family and place where these guys can come every day to relieve some stress and create long lasting friendships and memories.”
With this atmosphere, the team has had a great season so far. As sophomore Mathew Burgin says, “From the bench, I have seen our players do some great things.” The season began with a two-game win streak against Phoenix Christian and Valley Christian. The Knights then suffered a loss against Coronado, but still accomplished, as Coach Sale says, “something not many teams can do. We managed to put a lot of pressure on the two-time defending state champion, the most prolific high school team I have seen in my 20 plus years of coaching high school soccer, and hold them to only five goals.”
And finally the Knights saw their second loss against Cortez, another powerful team that has made it to the semifinals or higher the past three years in a row. So, with a 2-2 record, Coach Sale remarks, “Our men fought through much adversity but we are moving forward and have every expectation to rise above and continue to make a push to the playoffs.”
Coach Potter encourages the team to be “fearless.” He says, “I am trying to teach the guys that when you are running a 200m race, run 220’s. If you get knocked down seven times, to get up eight! Because no matter how you start, it matters how you finish.”