Local soccer teams ready to get their kicks

There are plenty of changes for the Yuba City High boys soccer team this season and it all starts at the top.

First-year coach Sean Nelson takes over at the helm after serving as an assistant for longtime head man Paul Shank for the last two seasons.

Last year, the Honkers went 21-2-3 during their regular season campaign before being ousted from the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs with a 2-1 loss on the road to Benicia. Their 6-2-2 Tri-County Conference record was good enough for second place behind a Natomas team that went a perfect 10-0 in league play, but with 12 of the 22 players on the team crossing the stage in June, Yuba City has had to replace more than half of its roster coming into this year.

However, all of this matters little to Nelson as the Honkers have reloaded with a solid group of juniors and look to be one of the teams to beat yet again this year in the TCC.

"We have a decent team with a lot of talented midfielders, so we're going to set up with five of them and try to control the ball at midfield," he said. "In our first two games we've gotten better as the game went on, so I think we'll have a very good year."

Senior striker Dario Teyes will lead the offensive charge for the Honkers after scoring 13 goals and dishing out 14 assists last season. And while Yuba City will have another strong returner in senior midfielder Giovanni Padilla, the Honkers will need to find the rest of their goals from a bunch of newcomers.

The Honkers scored 74 goals last season, but only 17 of them came from returning players. That said, other members of the team will need to step up.

"We only have four seniors on the team, the rest are juniors and sophomores," Nelson said. "We're young, but we'll get better."

Padilla and junior Shaanjit Johal make up part of the Honkers' strong midfield, while Teyes and senior Robert Ramos will provide the scoring threats up front.

Another strength of the team will be its goalkeepers, where the Honkers have no less than three players who can get the job done in juniors Benjamin Anderson and Jose Chavez and sophomore Victor Alcantar.

"We have three really strong goalies and they keep each other on their toes," Nelson said. "There's a lot of competition, so they can't goof around at practice."

As for his goals, it all starts with making the playoffs.

"We want to try and get to the second round and have two home games in the playoffs," said Nelson, who added that his team will be bolstered even more once a few players become academically eligible. "We're still working on defense a little, but once we tighten that up we should be a really strong team."

Lindhurst

While Yuba City lost its fare share of athletes to graduation, the opposite can be said for Lindhurst, which returns nearly every key players from last year's club.

The Blazers finished 13-2-2 overall and 10-1-1 in the Golden Empire League while sharing the league title with Golden Sierra. And while they eventually made it to the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI playoffs, coach Eric Hoefler is confident his team can do more of the same this year.

"We're going to be really, really strong. Only a couple of the kids graduated, so the bulk of our team is intact," he said. "We're pretty deep this year. Everyone on the roster is 'combat effective' you could say."

Leading the way on the front end will be senior Erik Machuca, who is back in the fold after tallying 18 goals and 10 assists last season. Joining Machuca up front will be junior Gabriel Vasquez, who had 12 goals and 15 assists a year ago, and senior Luis Ferreyra.

The Blazers also look to be strong in the goaltending department with junior Miguel Luna and senior Kendal Capporale minding the net.

"Things are looking good," Hoefler said. "If we hold it together as a team and don't get too overconfident, we should have a good year."

Marysville

Even though nearly two-thirds of the Indians' roster is seniors, Marysville coach Len Marks said his team may still lack in experience this year.

"Of the 12 seniors on our roster, only five really have significant playing time," Marks said. "We're a unique team in that our core group of players are very solid and the other group is rapidly improving."

Sweepers Robert Williamson and Craig Staples will anchor the Indians' back line while Adrian Renteria and Brian Tuttle lead the charge at the midfield. Tanner Mailloux is back as the team's leading scoring threat, while Davis High transfer Nick Jones brings a high level of play at center-mid.

Senior Angel Mota will be the team's goalkeeper and can be force when at his best, Marks said.

"The only thing he needs to work on is consistency," Marks said of Mota. "Once he morphs into that goalie insanity, he can really lead the team."

Although Marks thinks that Dixon will be the league favorite after finishing 9-1 last season with mostly all juniors, he feels that the Indians will be much improved.

"This team is much better than last year," he said. "I think we would run the teams from the last two years into the ground."

Faith Christian

The Lions appear to be strong on the pitch once again with junior forward Spencer Iskikian and junior midfielder Skylar Ripley returning as the team's top two leading scorers.

"They both play on the left side, so if (Ripley) can get the ball to Spencer we should see some good action," Faith Christian coach Robert Ripley said. "The only thing we need to work on is passing and talking to each other. In practice we do it real well, but in our first couple games we quit talking."

The strength of the team will be at midfield with Cameron Ripley, Blake Lavin, Micah Atkins, Joe Childers and Blake Gaspard doing their part to help the Lions improve on last year's 12-10-1 mark.

Add to them the play of seniors Alex Lopez, Josh Khela, Robbie Farley and Todd Thomas, and the Lions should contend for the Sacramento Metropolitan Athletic League title.

The loss of standout goalkeeper Josh Hill will hurt, but Ripley still has a strong net-minder in junior Jesse Clark.

"I think we will do well in our section," said Ripley, who added that Sacramento Country Day looks to be the front-runner in the SMAL. "We're playing some big schools right now so once we begin league, we should do well."

Coaches from River Valley and New Life Christian could not be reached for comment.