Young Lions still learning how to win
OCHS boys' soccer team has gone through an up-and-down season
By Stephen Dorman sdorman@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers CROSSTOWN BATTLE- Oaks Christian forward Harrison Hill, left, applies the pressure to Oak Park's Bill Cunningham during Tuesday's Tri-Valley League match at OCHS. The Lions won 3-0.

Perhaps the expectations were a little too high. Then again, maybe they weren't.

Despite fielding a roster that featured more freshmen (six) than seniors (four), the Oaks Christian boys' soccer team was ranked in the top 10 of the CIF-Southern Section Division V coaches' poll to begin the season.

When the Lions went undefeated in their first seven games of the year- six wins and a tie- OCHS made the prognosticators look pretty darn smart.

Since the blazing start, though, Oaks Christian has won only three of its last eight matches. Prior to Wednesday's game at home against St. Bonaventure, Oaks' record stood at 9-4-2 overall. The Lions were 3-2 in the Tri-Valley League.

"I think we were getting respect because of our past," Lions head coach Sebastian Alvarado said. "In the last three years, we've made the quarterfinals, finals and quarterfinals again, and we lost to the team that eventually won CIF each time.

"Our reputation got us ranked high, but with all of our injuries we started to lose some key games."

The first significant setback for OCHS came three games into the season when senior goalkeeper Daniel Auten went down with an injury. Auten was replaced by freshman Conor Mason.

Shortly thereafter, junior John Paul Herold, a playmaking midfielder who earned All-CIF honors last year, was lost with a knee injury. Herold continues to rehab the knee and could return as soon as next week.

Junior forward Doug Chespack also missed some time due to injury, but he recently returned to the pitch.

With so many guys going down, the Lions' freshmen had to step up. Currently, OCHS has five ninth-graders in its starting lineup. And as expected, the young players have had their fair share of ups and downs.

"We're green, very young," Alvarado said. "At times it shows how young we are. Our league expanded this year, and there are some good teams like Fillmore and Carpinteria out there now. That's made the transition a little more difficult."

One of the contributing freshmen for Oaks Christian is midfielder J.J. Koval.

While he admits the transition from club soccer to the high school varsity level has been dramatic at times, Koval said his older teammates have helped make the adjustment as smooth as possible.

"It's a much faster pace than I'm used to," Koval said. "Luckily the team has taken us all in very well. We feel like we're part of the team, but as always, you have to work very hard because the other players are much bigger than we are."

In addition to Mason and Koval, freshmen Aiden Leonard, Patrick Harmon and Harrison Hanley have all seen time in the Lions' starting lineup.

The responsibility of helping the younger players along on the field has fallen on the shoulders of senior co-captains Harrison Hill and Brett Taylor.

Hill, a forward, said it's his and Taylor's job to keep the team calm and focused on the task at hand each day.

"We're really small, so a lot of the teams are much bigger than us," Hill said. "It's not really a case of keeping the guys from getting too pumped up; it's more like making sure we encourage them and keep things positive."

Because there are so many new players, Taylor said the team continues to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses, even this late into the season. If the chemistry can continue to build, he said Oaks Christian might be able to make another run deep into the playoffs.

"We're pretty good individually, but we still need to work on togetherness," Taylor said. "The chemistry's good right now, but it can definitely get better as we move toward the postseason."