The varsity boys’ soccer team will play Marquette High School tonight at RBHS at 6:30 p.m. The Bruins are 12-2 on the year, coming off of a big win against Gateway Legacy Christian Academy (GLCA), which is the second ranked team in the state and 23rd ranked team nationally.
Senior Preston Fancher, who scored the winning penalty kick in the penalty kick shootout against GLCA after the regular and extended time periods ended in a tie, said the win against GLCA was a confirmation of the Bruins’ confidence.
“I feel like our team has known what we are capable of since the start of the season, and it doesn’t change after beating GLCA,” Fancher said. “They were a great team, but us beating them showed that we are also a great team. I think our team is trying to focus on the next game against Marquette because beating GLCA was a big accomplishment, but it doesn’t mean much if we can’t perform well in the rest of the games this season.”
Coach Scott Wittenborn attributed the win to the hard work the team put in in preparation for the game and hopes they can build on the momentum of their past performances this year to advance far in the postseason.
“GLCA was an absolutely fantastic team with talent all over the field,” Wittenborn said. “It took a perfect effort from our guys to find the win, and I think it has proven to us that we are capable of beating anyone.”
Fancher said that this hard work mindset Wittenborn has instilled in the team has been carried over into games, contributing to the Bruins’ success.
“One aspect that our team has been working on is giving our best effort in practice and in games. Our coach has really been testing our team to show up every day to practice and give our best effort so that we can get something out of it and improve what we work on,” Fancher said. “We then try to convert that over to our games and play the whole game leaving everything out on the field.”
The preparation in practice has allowed the Bruins to grow as a team senior goalkeeper Cooper Deneke said.
“I think one thing we have really improved on since the start of the year is being tight defensively and staying with our marks,” Deneke said. “That really showed on Monday against Gateway with our defense playing very well and limiting the other team’s opportunities.”
Fancher said although the team has a strong record on the season, the year has not come without its challenges, which the Bruins have dealt with successfully.
“I think that one aspect our team has done well this season is not to get discouraged if we go down by a goal,” Fancher said. “There have been multiple games where we get scored on first, and instead of getting upset about it we continue to play and that has paid off for us in multiple games where we have come back from being down and won.”
Wittenborn said the team is not tailoring their game plan too significantly for Marquette, as the goal is to be consistent with practices and in-game performances to build overall success for the season.
“Right now we seek to continue to get better at more consistently doing the small things for an entire game,” Wittenborn said. “Once we can more consistently communicate with one another, mark tighter and make the runs we talk about, we will be a very formidable team.”
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