The St. Helens soccer season is over, and though the team didn’t qualify for the state tournament, Head Coach Jim Cole is pleased with the growth of his squad in his first season at the helm.
“I think we did outstanding. The guys have a lot of talent. We played against the number two team in the state, and we were one score off,” Cole said. “Overall, they did outstanding. We have a good, solid team, not only now, but next year looks really good too. We have some good returning players.”
The growth of the team is evident in the improved record from last year. In 2022, the Lions finished the season with one win, 12 losses, and one draw. This year, St. Helens saw major improvement, finishing the season 3-8-3, but had close games with some of the top teams in the state.
One such game was the contest that Cole alluded to, where St. Helens narrowly lost to undefeated Tillamook on Oct. 12, where the game was decided by a last-gasp penalty kick.
One of the reasons to be optimistic is the strong class of returning players that will ensure continuity on the team going into next year.
“Zack Edwards, he’s outstanding. Gerardo Gonzales Meza, wow, that guy is just phenomenal. I can put him any place, and he plays really well. Justice Stanton, wasn’t a starter at first; he improved tremendously and was a solid wall on defense for us,” Cole said.
Another player that Cole mentioned was sophomore defenseman Nick Leader. While Leader came into the season as a midfielder, Cole reassigned him to a defensive wing position, which was a better fit for Cole’s possession-oriented system. Cole said that both Stanton and Leader were solid presences for the team at the back.
“Leader has a very controlled nature. He gets the ball, and he uses some of his midfield skills to juke them and be able to distribute the ball,” Cole said. “Both Justice and Nick out on our wings helped distribute the ball instead of just booting the ball, which is kind of where they’ve been the last few years. We play a lot more possession, and those two guys were very key from a maturity stand point.”
Adapting to a new style
This year saw Cole employ a new style for the team. As opposed to kicking the ball out of their own half, Cole wanted his team to control the ball and work up the field with shorter passes. While in the past, St. Helens has surrendered possession, Cole said this year the team would possess the ball up to 70 percent of the time in some of their games.
Cole said the lack of experience showed at times during the season. With a little more sharpness, or if the ball or calls went their way a few more times, Cole said his team could easily be farther up in the rankings.
“We very easily could be right up there with number one or number two, just with one call different or one little play different,” Cole said.
Going into next year, Cole said that familiarity with the players is a big bonus as a coach. He won’t need to spend the first part of the season getting to know the team, so he will be able to come into the season with a clear vision of what he wants the team to do.
One of Cole’s focuses this year was to ensure that the defensive approach for the team was solid. By focusing heavily on the midfield and defense, Cole was able to limit the number of goals his team leaked and convert the staunch defense into better results.
“You see the difference in: last year’s team, they scored 15 goals for the season, we scored 15 this year. The difference is last year, they allowed 58 goals, while we allowed 30 this year,” Cole said. “Our goal coming in next year is to take that 2:1 and flip-flop it. We want to score a lot more.”
Cole came into the season knowing he couldn’t rebuild all the components of the team this season, so a defensive overhaul was the quickest fix to improve their results. This year, Cole will focus on the attack and ensuring that they can start putting pressure on other teams with their offense.
Some of the players Cole is looking to step up next season are Pedro Ramirez Tapia, Finn Cole, Bryan Ramirez, Carter Nelson, and Midnite Daly.
One facet that Cole is hoping to see some improvement in next year is participation so they can have a larger squad on matchday. Cole said there were times during the season when they only had one substitute for games while other teams had full benches of six subs. The low number lent themselves to tired legs and tired mistakes late in games.
Cole desires that they get numbers to bolster their ranks and that the players on the team will take their training seriously to make sure they can still give full effort at the end of games.
“I tell them, ‘Look, you can’t control whatever god-given talent you were given.’ What you can control is your drive; you can control athleticism in terms of your physical fitness; you can control all that,” Cole said. “I want you to go out and keep giving your all. And at the end of the day, have fun. If you’re not having fun, what’s the use.”
While Cole is excited about the progress of his team and has his eyes on the Cowapa League title in the coming seasons, he does hope that more of the community will come out to support the team next year.
“My hope is that the community starts to find their love for soccer, of watching it. Come out and watch it, it’s a very dynamic game, there’s so much more to love,” Cole said. “I’d love to see more support of coming and watching the games from the community.”
