The leading scorer for Republic’s soccer Tigers, Julio Quezada, is back for his junior season. The player who set up Quezada for most of his scoring opportunities, Mitchell Heinzler, is not. Heinzler graduated last spring, and that means the Tigers will need to develop new contributors in supporting roles if they want to improve on last season.
Coach David Ashby says that’s possible. He’s looking to Ray Rosas and Armando Hurtado as potential up-and-comers who will play a big role in the Tigers’ 2015 offense.
“They’ve got the soccer IQ. They know what they should do. They know what they need to do, and they’re very hard on themselves when they screw up. They know what I’m going to tell them almost before I tell them,” Ashby says.
Because defenses will be targeting Quezada, Ashby has told his other players–especially Hurtado and Rosas–to look for their own scoring opportunities.
Defensively, the Tigers lose leadership from graduated seniors Matt Hyde, Sam Heinzler, and Marcus Robinson. But Ashby says he has new seniors ready to step up and take over the leadership role.
“With this group, they’re all seniors I expect to be playing in the back, with the exception of maybe Trenton Roetto and Manny Elivo,” Ashby says. “I’ll have Payton Roetto in the back. He’s definitely a safety valve. There’s a lot of soccer IQ, and a lot of years of experience playing together. I hope that will translate into a good, solid, smart defense. All four or five guys that I’ll rotate in and out have been playing together for the last four years.”
Cody Marcotte will be in goal. After some initial indecision about whether he wanted to play in the field, Marcotte has committed to goalkeeping, and Ashby says it has paid off.
“He’s worked hard in the off-season. Experience-wise, he’s as good as anyone we’ve had,” Ashby says.
You can read an expanded preview of the Tigers’ soccer season in the August issue of Republic Tiger Sports magazine, due out the week of August 17.