Coming off of a 5-0 season last year, Coach Jon Ross and his Marietta High School
Indians soccer team knew this season would be a tough one. After you win 100 percent
of your games, people begin to expect perfection – and it’s super hard to deliver one
perfect season, much less more than one after another.
Last year the Indians graduated several members of the team, and this year the team
may experience some growing pains.
“We are 0-2 this season,” said Ross. “We are young, but we are practicing hard and
improving all the time.”
On Monday the squad played Ada.
“Our inexperience showed in the Ada game,” Ross stated. “We fought, but sometimes
things just don’t go your way.”
Tuesday, the Indians were scheduled to host Atoka, but the match had to be moved
because of field conditions.
“At Atoka we lost again, 3-2. Again, inexperience got us,” Ross insisted. “Atoka got
ahead of us and we tried to recover, but just couldn’t.”
One bright spot in the game, Asael Barrientos scored two goals.
“I’m proud of the way our kids are fighting,” explained Ross. “We are young and playing
against more experienced teams, but I see improvement every day.”
The team has only four senior players. One of them, Silas Billy has signed a letter of
intent to play college soccer at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham,
Washington.
“Silas is a great senior leader on the field for us,” Ross said. “He’s going to a great
team, but he has the mentality to adapt and I think he will be a good leader in college
just like he is for us.”
Ross depends on Billy and the team’s other seniors to provide leadership for the
younger student, and he sees that happening. So while this season may be a learning
curve, it’s not going to be a loss.
“These boys are going to get better the more we play, and the wins will come,”
concluded Ross.