The Hubs varsity soccer team graduated over half of its 2016 roster this spring, but that doesn’t mean Rochelle’s returning players are lowering the program’s expectations.
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ROCHELLE — The Hubs varsity soccer team graduated over half of its 2016 roster this spring, but that doesn’t mean Rochelle’s returning players are lowering the program’s expectations.
The boys gathered at Rochelle Township High School on Wednesday for their first practice of the 2017-18 school year, with the team’s upperclassmen leading new players through conditioning drills and team scrimmages. For senior Komla Gati, practice will be critical for the program’s younger players if the Hubs hope to follow the example set by the 2016 team that brought home 11 victories.
“We’re trying to improve on what we did last year,” Gati said. “We’re a lot younger… We just have to get better everyday. The seniors who left really helped us last year and a lot of them were starters. They were really great players, but we lost them so we just have to try and get better day by day.”
Rochelle will begin its season at the War on 34 Tournament beginning Monday, Aug. 21 in Earlville. One of the Hubs’ two starting forwards in 2016, Gati will look to fill the scoring void left by Juan Milan, who led RTHS in goals last season.
Juniors Jessee Infante and Josue Almaraz are two more players to keep an eye on in the midfield. Both players have led the team through summer conditioning workouts this year, and Infante said he and his teammates are seeking to make a statement when the Hubs take the field this fall.
“We’re out here to prove a point,” Infante said. “We can play against anybody. We just have to rely on our talent, it doesn’t matter how young we are… We have to train harder as a team. Right now it isn’t about winning games, it’s about learning how to work as a team.”
18 players participated in Wednesday’s practice, and a majority of the boys who suited up were underclassmen. But several of the team’s young players could make an instant impact at the varsity level this fall including sophomores Austin Brown and Max Torres, who began 2016 on the junior varsity team before making the jump to varsity.
“We’ve been playing a lot this summer, and it feels good to get back in shape before the season starts,” Brown said. “It was more of a team game once we got up to varsity. There weren’t as many goals and players moved the ball a lot quicker than they did at junior varsity. It was a great experience all-around.”
