The Cardinals boys soccer team’s depth was on full display at a Friday scrimmage, a quality the team hopes will propel it to a successful season.
Two Eudora teams, one in blue and one in white, rotated players in and out in a competitive match that ended in a 1-1 draw. The result was emblematic of a team that features talent up and down the roster.
“Everyone’s very competitive,” said senior center back Daniel Peterson. “We’ve had competitiveness in the past, but never to this level. It feels like every single person’s out there to just go out there and win.”
But the team isn’t letting the internal competition drive it apart. Instead it is fueling them to get better and grow closer.
“Everyone cares about each other,” said senior goalkeeper Nate Steinlage. “They’ll put in the extra effort because they care about the person right next to them.”
The team has a bond that expands beyond the soccer pitch. Many of them sit together at lunch and are best friends at school, which helps drive the team’s communication.
It was on full display Friday evening, where players shouted instructions back and forth to stick together and help move as a unit.
Head coach Darren Erpelding said that will be crucial for the team to find success this year. He said the four qualities he is preaching to the team are effort, organization, communication and attitude.
The group graduated a large group of seniors last year and has only a handful of returning starters. As they work to develop their speed and finishing skills throughout the year, maintaining strong cohesion as a team will help them win some games early in the year, he said. That journey will begin this Friday at Lansing.
“We’re not always going to be perfect with our possession and our touch and finishing,” Erpelding said. “So we’ve got to be really good defensively, and we’ve got to continue just to build on that the entire year.”
Both Erpelding and players set their goals high, hoping to make runs in the playoffs and string together wins late in the season. But most of all, he wants the team to continue to push itself and grow as a group deep into the season. If they can do that, the results will follow naturally.
“I just want to see them continue to grow, and see these guys really bond together,” Erpelding said. “For me, that’s huge.”
But a key to the Cardinals reaching their peak will be continuing to play as a team, focusing more on the person next to them than themselves.
For Steinlage and Peterson, two of the central pieces of a strong Cardinals defense, that kind of bond is already evident.
Steinlage last season fell just short of setting a Eudora goalkeeper record for least goals allowed. He hopes this year to finally claim the top spot and see his name on the wall of records.
Peterson didn’t hesitate when asked his goals for the year.
“Besides the obvious postseason,” he said, “I want to help this guy get on that wall up there with the record.”
Reach reporter Cuyler Dunn at [email protected]
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