New boys soccer coach brings fresh mindset

At the start their 2016-17 season, the former boy’s soccer coach, Corey Prost, announced his resignation, leaving the team in need for a new head coach. “The old coach had some scheduling problems with his other job because he is an off-campus coach. He just couldn’t commit to a full season,” Athletic Director Tim Ballaret said.Three weeks before the team’s first game, Ballaret began to narrow down the selection and focused on choosing who would be the right fit and the best leader for the boys. With a total of eight interviewed coaches, the Athletic Director was able to reduce the list down to four.“There were a couple of varsity players that were a part of the second part of the interview process with me. I interviewed the candidates initially at first by myself, narrowed it down, then I invited the varsity players to sit in on the second part of the interviews,” Ballaret said.After a long process of interviews and applications, Ballaret confirmed Samo alumnus Joe Doyle as the new coach.Now, halfway through their season, the team is pleased with the outcome of the change and continues to improve their play.“It wasn’t really a huge adjustment, he was the JV coach and most of the players already played under him,” varsity co-captain Ricardo McGary (’17) said.Doyle will not be a new face around campus, as he has contributed a number of years to Samo’s Soccer program.“I've been involved with the soccer program for about eight years. This will be my ninth season in total,” Doyle said. “I played in the program all four years while attending Samohi, and have coached at the JV level the last four seasons.”The Samo alumnus graduated in 2011, after his team went undefeated in League but lost in CIFs. “My senior year, I was on a team that was ranked number one in CIF rankings and failed to achieve anything of note due to the team not getting along,” Doyle said. “Our goal, as a coaching staff, is to keep the team together and to develop a winning and positive mentality/culture within the group.”According to McGary, the team is more comfortable with Doyle and assistant coach Danny Hulbert who has improved the team’s defensive formations and offensive disciplines. “I think the team is way more comfortable with Joe and Danny since they are closer to our age. There was nothing wrong with Corey, he is a great coach and I owe him a lot because he made me the player that I am today,” McGary said. “But with Joe we are allowed to play more freely and be ourselves on the pitch. We still need to have discipline within our positions and play our ‘role’ on the team. However we play more fluidly and relaxed.”In addition, Doyle believes that the team has grown a lot over the course of the season starting from their very first win in league.“There’s been quite a few really good and memorable games, but the game so far is probably the first league win against Hawthorne,” Doyle said. “We were losing 2-1 after group 1-0 up. We were able to score two goals late in the second half to win the game 3-2. That win sort of set the tone for league, especially with how it was won. That was also my first league win as a varsity coach, so it meant a bit more as well.”In contrast to the team’s first big win, they also experienced a major loss in their very first game against Torrance High School when starter Ryan Lane (’19) broke his leg.“Ryan got his leg broken in the first game against Torrance. He’s just going through the recovery process,” Doyle said. “He’s a good player and is very determined, and we expect him to make a full recovery and to be ready to go for us next season.”Despite this obstacle, the team recovered quickly from the loss, pushing them to further improve for the rest of their season. “The team has improved all over the pitch. Our defensive structure has really helped us not concede goals, and we’ve been really successful not conceding goals from open play,” Doyle said. “Our movement in the final third has gotten better as league play has gone, now we’re just wanting to get more goals to go along with the chances we’ve been creating.”As the team continues into the last half of their season, they will face tough competitors such as Culver City High School and El Segundo High School once again. “We have a tough week coming up. We have Culver back to back on Monday and Tuesday, then an away game at El Segundo on Thursday,” Doyle said. “Our mindset is the same, to go out and win each game. Culver is undefeated so far, but I think we have the players that are able to change that. I also feel like the loss against El Segundo has bothered the team a bit and they’re really wanting to make amends for what happened.”All in all, the team continues to strive toward playing hard and earning a spot in CIFs.  “Just in terms of the varsity team, our goal is to remain competitive in the league, as I personally feel we have a real shot at winning it this season, and seeing how we do in playoffs,” Doyle said.