A big thank you goes out to everyone for another fun season. As a staff, we can't emphasize enough how fantastic the young people are in this program and how much we enjoy getting to work with them. The boys are the reason we come back year after year, and the people in the program are what makes it special. We really appreciate all of you!

 

This past season saw each team face challenges throughout the year. I think adversity was a common theme, and while we would love each and every year to be a smooth ride, our struggles are what define us and really help us grow. I am proud of all of our players for how they presevered through adversity, and I am confident that they all have grown because of it.

 

JV RED

 

Our JV Red squad was very skilled, but also incredibly young. We had a large number of middle school players on that team this year. While this is great in regards to getting a start on individual development and also starting to form some chemistry at a young age, it also means this group would most likely face some physical challenges against older players. As is the case every year, it always takes awhile for this group to come together, but by the end of the year we are seeing leaps forward individually and as a result big improvement as a team. In the end this team is about giving new and returning players a continued opportunity in the program and to help them develop, and also getting future LHS players involved at a young age. Job well done to Coach Nathan with the work he did with this group!

 

JV NAVY

 

We saw early on at Bluegrass State Games that our JV Navy team would be a very talented squad this year. Even with a couple of players getting pulled up to varsity throughout the year, they showed great promise all season long. As can be the case with young players, inconsistency was definitely a factor, but when this group was on their game it was a lot of fun to watch. I think the most clear example of this was their 5-0 win against Douglass. The boys were excellent in this game and gave Douglass their worst loss by far all season. Many of our JV Navy players showed great potential to eventually be varsity impact players and we are excited about their futures in the program. Coach Adam and William did an excellent job with this group in developing that competitive mentality but also keeping a focus on individual improvement to help the boys grow. Good work guys!

 

VARSITY

 

As for varsity it was a rollercoaster from day 1. Even before tryouts started we had 3 seniors (all of which were projected to have big roles this year) pick up either a season ending injury, or a potential season ending injury. Our preseason was an incredible challenge as at one point we had a double digit number of injuries. As you can imagine that made it very difficult to make progress during such an important part of the season. With how compact the regular season is with so many games, the preseason is really the time to take big steps forward in chemistry and training development. Due to our roster situation, that meant this timeline would have to be pushed back a little. It really put us behind from the beginning and we were playing catch up all season. Unfortunately injuries hit us all year which really affected our consistency throughout the year, so we were fighting uphill a lot of the year. However, I am really proud of how we ended the season. In our last 7 games we went 5-2 (includes 4 district games) with 18 goals for and 2 goals against, and we earned a deserved victory over the eventual district champs (Tates Creek). We were right there with the best in our district, and put ourselves in a position to advance to region, which is our goal every year. That says an awful lot about the perseverance and positive attitude of the boys, as they stayed the course and kept working towards finding solutions. I never felt like they became deflated or discouraged over results, and kept believing in what they could accomplish as a team. They should be proud of the character they showed all season long.

 

 

Thanks again for a great year. As always, it goes by much too fast, but it was a blast. We already can't wait for 2020! Go Generals!