The veterans are taking charge of Camp Verde High School soccer.
While the girls soccer program showed growing pains under a new head coach Thursday, Sept. 1, in their home opener with Holbrook High School, 16th-year head boys coach Dave Miller and 12 seniors took charge of their opener at Payson High School.
Junior striker Nate Schultz assisted a deep cast of senior scorers Aug. 30 to help the Cowboys break the Longhorns, 11-0, for their biggest win over Payson since a 10-goal home shutout three years ago.
Miller puts great stock in that experience to help break the two-year stranglehold Chino Valley High School has held over the 2A Conference state championship.
Girls Soccer
Nathan Pineda, a local soccer coach for nearly 20 years and a former Miller assistant, was frank about the mental adjustment it would take for his 18 girls to make it back to the 2A state tournament, let alone win a postseason game in his first season.
“Last year, I just overheard most of the players — ‘Oh, this team, they’re tougher, we’re going to lose’ — before [the game],” Pineda said. “The last few years, when I saw them, some of them were individuals, sometimes.”
That won’t be enough to overcome 2A Central Region challengers like Northland Prep, he said, let alone win tournaments like Friday and Saturday, Sept. 16 and 17, at Show Low High School — especially since it wasn’t enough to beat the Cougars at an Aug. 27 scrimmage.
“They let the other team take the initiative to go to the ball,” Pineda said. “We just stood there and watched. We’re trying to possess a ball just three touches — not [have] just one person try to take the whole team.”
That starts up front, where striker Raiven Alvey is the only senior starter on the team.
Lupe Orta, normally an outside midfielder, is filling in at the second forward spot while fellow sophomore Tyra Smith recovers from a softball injury.
That has brought over twin sophomores Edith and Eliana Paniagua to complement junior Alex Schaeffer.
The final line of defense is mounted on the outside by junior Irlanda Lopez and sophomore Emily Orellana, anchored inside by junior sweeper Alden Teeters and stopper Tanna Decker, playing in place of injured freshman teammate Alondra Fowler.
“In the center, in front of Alden, I’m going to run Tanna,” Pineda said of Decker, who normally plays center midfielder with fellow freshman Jocelyn Fitzgerald. “All of those girls, they’ve been playing together since middle school anyway. Most of our girls play club, off-season.”
In goal, sophomore Brina Church beat out senior Savanah Cooley for the starting spot.
“My girls will play as a team: Learn how to communicate [and] help each other out,” Pineda said. “Most times, if you don’t have a coach that is tough from the get-go, they’ll run all over you and think they know more than you do.”
Boys Soccer
With 28 players spread between varsity and junior varsity teams, Miller was able to rotate in his bench for most of the second half of the win over the Longhorns.
“We maintained a senior defense in there to preserve the shutout,” he said. “It wasn’t anything where we were trying to run up the score: The younger players played hard.”
Junior Nick Daniels backs up an all-senior defense of Beau Bullard and David Perez in the middle, with John Castillo and Juan Guzman on the outside.
“We’ve paid our dues,” Miller said. “Three years ago, we played a varsity schedule with one senior and 12 sophomores on the team.”
This fall, Miller starts eight seniors, including outside midfielders Cody Fant and Westly Loveall.
With sophomore striker Joseph Jones in reserve, the return of another senior, Ezekial Casillas, means a potent, experienced front line attack.
“He always brings a lot of energy to the field,” Miller said. “He’s exciting out there.”
Juniors Preston Maynard and Nick Daniels are first and second on the depth chart at goalkeeper.
“It’s more of a fluid game, and the attack starts at different spots on the field,” Miller said. “These boys have worked hard in the off-season. They practice every day except Sundays, and I think you’re seeing the fruits of that.”
For full Camp Verde High School boys and girls soccer schedules, please see the Wednesday, Sept. 7, issues of the Camp Verde Journal and Cottonwood Journal Extra.
