After the May retirement of Thomas “Buddy” Rhodes, Andrea Strobel embraced the opportunity to become head girls soccer coach at Mingus Union High School.
“I’ve always wanted to coach, it’s just that it’s always been taken,” said the fifth-year English teacher at MUHS with five years’ experience coaching club soccer. “Big shoes to fill. The timing was just right.”
Strobel still has plenty of pieces from “Buddy ball” to work with, including his long-time junior varsity coach, Lee Canning, and seven returning seniors from last year’s team that reached the Division III quarterfinals.
“When [Rhodes] was coaching, they had gotten to the finals — then the next year it was semifinals, and then quarterfinals,” Strobel said. “We’re building the program to head back up again.”
One of those seniors, third-year starter Martina Bueno, got the new era off to a right start Thursday, Nov. 19, with a goal in a 2-0 win at Valley Vista High School.
“That helps bring up everyone else a lot to the level of play we need to be at,” Strobel said. “Go in confident. It’s an attitude: It’s not completely starting from scratch.”
Senior midfielders Kassidy Kitchen and Brenna McCallum, co-captains of their 14 varsity teammates, will attempt to build wins on that attitude Tuesday, Nov. 30, at 6 p.m., at the Desert Classic Cup.
“Part of it is learning yourselves — exposure to how each other plays,” she said. “It’s great for me, to see who plays where.”
Strobel has “always” been strategizing with Canning about which JV girls should join the varsity at the Reach 11 Sports Complex in Cave Creek against Sunnyslope High School.
“He’ll be, like, ‘Well, last year, this is what we did, and you don’t have to do the same, but at least we know what was done,’” she said. “It helps with that passing the torch.”
At least four games in five days at the Classic Cup, broken up Friday, Dec. 4, by the Marauders’ home opener against Coconino High School, will forge a new identity quickly for the 33 girls in the program.
For the full story, more photos and girls soccer schedule, please see the Wednesday, Nov. 25, issue of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.
