 For some teams, championships are the standard by which success is
measured.For other teams, just winning a couple of games and
improving over the course of the season is the objective.
For this year's version of the Lincoln Railer boys soccer
program, the measuring stick is a fairly unique one: themselves.
Led by six seniors, many of whom have loads of varsity
experience, the Railers are hoping to reach new heights in the
program's history this season.
If all goes well, multiple team records could fall.
That's the hope anyway.
"None of us are too concerned about individual records or
anything like that," said senior midfielder and returning
all-sectional selection Tommy Harris. "We want to break some team
records here at Lincoln."
Lincoln head coach Tim Stuckey is aware of his team's aspirations
and appears in no hurry to lower expectations, although his own
goals are slightly different.
Stuckey has told his team he expects them to compete in every
game they play.
He wants the blowout losses of the last three seasons to stop
this year.
"I don't ever predict wins and losses," said Stuckey when asked
for his expectations this season. "I told the guys at the end (of
their ‘Meet the Railers' scrimmage) that we should be competitive in
every game. The last four years or so, we've had a lot of blowouts
where we're on the losing end. This year, we shouldn't lose any
games by those huge margins."
Stuckey's goal of being competitive against all teams could prove
especially challenging against some of Lincoln's foes in the Central
State Eight conference.
While the conference gets statewide attention for its skill in
football, it's also a strong conference in soccer.
"Historically, even in our good years, we are middle of the pack,
at best, in soccer," said Stuckey. "To say we want to win the
conference perhaps isn't reasonable. (It'd be more achievable) to
say when we go up against Chatham, Springfield, Sacred Heart,
Rochester, Jacksonville -- who are always in the top five -- to say
we'll be in it with them, every game. As long as we play like we're
capable of, we should be in every game."
Harris echoed those thoughts.
"We're hoping to compete with everyone we play," said Harris. "We
were talking earlier, and we don't expect to get blown out by
anybody. We want to make every game competitive and maybe beat some
of the teams where, in the past, we haven't really had a chance to
beat them."
The optimism for this season is rooted in the confidence of
having an experienced team.
Harris, Kyle Klockenga, Harrison Splain, Trace Splain, Ryan Sloan
and Will Podbelsek are all seniors who saw significant playing time
last season. All but Podbelsek have multiple years of varsity
experience.
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Those seniors, along with non-seniors like Dalton Byrne, Cameron
Cook and Joey Olden, give Stuckey a well-rounded team, with no
glaring weakness at any spot on the field.
Harris keys the midfield, while Podbelsek and Olden are key
defenders. Sloan and Klockenga are expected to handle the forward
positions, although Klockenga will see time in goal as well,
especially early in the season. The hope is that Byrne and Cook will
emerge as reliable options at the keeper spot by midseason, allowing
Klockenga to be a forward on a full-time basis.
The key offensively is going to be balance, Stuckey says. The
coach also noted that 90 percent of the team's goals and assists
from last season return this year.
"I've said to the team that in 2004, we were 11-11. In 2006, we
were 11-10. In 2007, we were 9-9-5," said Stuckey. "And, if you look
back, in 2004, Joey Papuga had 24 goals. In 2006 and 2007, Jason
Parmenter had 22 goals each season.
"This year, we could approach .500 again, but, I don't see
anybody getting 20 goals. I see six or seven guys getting several
goals apiece, because that's the way these guys play. We don't have
that one superstar scorer who we'll rely on, who we'll live and die
by. We'll have a bunch of scorers. That's the way were last year,
when we had five guys with five goals apiece."
Along with their experience and balance, another strength of this
Railer squad is expected to be chemistry.
Many of the group of seniors have played together extensively for
the past three seasons. They've seen plenty of ups and downs during
that time.
"Six of them have dressed varsity since their freshman year,"
said Stuckey. "Tommy, Harry, Kyle and Trace have all played a lot of
varsity time.
"As freshmen, there were 12 kids in their class, and we only had
24 in the whole program. So, they played a lot of minutes as
freshmen and that was our roughest year. In 2009, we won two games.
But each year we've steadily improved because we've only graduated
four or five at most, and we've been able to return most of our
depth and a lot our offensive production has returned."
Harris pointed out that their chemistry is strengthened by their
bond off the field. Indeed, the senior group is a close-knit bunch
who can often be found together walking the halls of LCHS.
"It's good," said Harris of team chemistry. "Playing alongside
your friends really helps. We have each other's backs, and we'll
make thatrun back for them because that teammate I'm running for has
been my friend my whole life. I'm not going to let him down."
[By JUSTIN TIERNEY]
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