By: Brian Avery

Welcome to the last Soccer article of the 2022-2023 school year! For this article, we are combining the Women’s and Men’s soccer articles into one! Without further ado, let’s get right into it.

First, let’s check in on the Men’s Soccer Team. Both teams traveled to Uvalde where the JV tied 1-1, and the Varsity lost 1-3. After that, both teams went to Floresville, with the JV losing 0-1, and the Varsity tied 1-1. Both teams played Somerset, and the JV won 3-2, with the Varsity the varsity winning 2-1. Now, the varsity boys were in the play-offs, and the boys played La Vernia in the first round. It was a long tough fight, and with the regular time of the game ending 0-0. They went into overtime, an extra 20 minutes, and they were still tied after that, so they went to penalty kick shootouts. Unfortunately, the Eagles lost 3-5 in shootouts, and the boy’s season was over.

Picking up where we left off , the varsity team played Uvalde at home, unfortunately losing 1-2. Dusting themselves off, they traveled to Floresville, tying the home team 0-0. They came home to play Somerset, and lost again 0-2. After all these losses, the girls picked themselves up and beat Poteet 5-0 at home. The girls were now in the playoffs, going against Gonzales in the first round. After a long game, the girls were barely beaten 0-1, ending their season. 

To conclude both seasons, I reached both head coaches, and a varsity player from each team. For the Women’s team, I spoke with Coach Joseph, but unfortunately was unable to get in contact with one of the players. When asked about the lady’s season, Coach Joseph said “Overall, I am happy with the season. Coaching a young team with over 50% first-year varsity players as a first-year head coach proved to be a challenge, but I felt as though we handled the challenge well and began building something special this season.” He also praised the leadership of Grace Keylich and Paige David, “Those seniors truly upheld both the program’s core values and their coach’s standard on and off the field.” Coach Joseph did express his disappointment that the ladies didn’t get as far as he hoped, but held his head high, stating that he feels good about the future. “That loss will continue to serve as a reminder that we have work to do this off-season and next pre-season. Humility fuels hunger!” Looking forward, he spoke of his excitement for next season, as the majority of the team will be at PHS still next year, and he expects another level of understanding and drive next year, “I am retaining nearly my entire squad who now has an excellent understanding of what I expect from them in their play and conduct.” 

As for the Men’s Team, they had similar things to say. Coach Breiten expressed satisfaction with the season’s results, praising the team’s chemistry on and off the field, but had a hunger for more. Stefan had similar sentiments, stating “I didn’t have any regrets, it was a process going through the season with all the younger guys, and I think that we didn’t finish too bad.” Coach Breiten was impressed with Keeton Diaz, a Freshman, and his rapid improvement throughout the season, “I didn’t know he had that type of ability as a Freshman.” Coach Breiten and Stefan were very happy with the last game of the season and stated that even though they lost, it was an amazing game. Stefan mentioned that he wished that more pressure was placed on the players to focus up and take things seriously, such as drills during practice, which Coach Brieten agreed with, “Some of the little things added up and caught us in the long run.” Stefan believes that if the upcoming team gets into the right mindset and follows the new process and training that Coach Brieten has set out for them, they will do well. Coach Brieten felt optimistic about the team for next year but admitted that the remaining players have a lot of work to do, “It’s going to be interesting, we’re going to see who steps up.” He wishes the Class of 2023 success in their future endeavors!