INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — When the 2011-12 St. Ed’s varsity girls soccer team took the field Thursday for their home opener against First Academy, head coach Jeff Lamscha was in the early stages of what could be a season-long chess match with the 19 players on his roster.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” Lamscha said. “We have a good solid foundation of girls who can play multiple positions. Our depth and balance are better than in recent years. That will be key for us. I have a general idea (about a regular starting lineup), but we’ve been experimenting.”
Lamscha lost only three seniors from last year, but took a big hit in talent and leadership as a result.
Co-captains Cory Deal, Alex Pulido and Liz Sockol anchored the offense, defense and goalkeeping respectively.
The 2010-11 squad posted a very respectable 11- 3-4 mark. The season ended with 1-0 double overtime loss to Benjamin in the district semi-finals.
The senior leadership this year will be the responsibility of co-captains Sarah Brown at midfield and Anmol Patel on defense.
“It’s a good fit,” Lamscha says. “They’re veterans and the team respects how they conduct themselves.”
Senior Amanda Pizzo and sophomore Hannah Hughes are slated to share goalkeeping duties.
Lamscha is confident the “two person crew” will work for the Pirates.
“Both are deserving of playing time,” he said. “Neither is experienced at the varsity level, but they’ve been working hard and I believe both are capable. It’s good competition. We’ll see how it progresses during the year.”
Fourteen of the 19 girls on the roster are sophomores or younger, but that doesn’t mean the team is short on varsity experience.
In particular, the primary punch on offense is expected to come from a group that provided much of it last year.
Lamscha identified sophomores Morgan Falkenhagen and Sarah Graves, freshmen Brett Harper and Dani Pulido, and seventh-grader Mia Festagallo as those most likely to put the ball into the net.
“Brett can score from long range,” Lamscha told us. “Morgan is more of an attack midfielder. She has the ability to find the net with accuracy and power. With Graves and Pulido at forward, we have four people who can distribute and score. That will keep the other team from focusing on one person. Also you throw Mia Festagallo in there at forward or midfield and we have five solid players and a good rotation.”
That’s right, a seventh grader has a big say in how well the offense functions.
Playing on the varsity is nothing new for Festagallo.
She performed well with the big team as a sixth grader, tallying three times in a game last January.
Her name was often found right next to goals and assists on the stat sheet.
“Obviously, anyone from the middle school who plays on the varsity has got to have something special,” Lamscha explained. “Last year we thought Mia would play on the sub-varsity level, but my varsity players and captains told me ‘No, you’ve got to bring her up.’ They saw right away that she could help our team. She was a major contributor. The team welcomed her and she handled everything very well socially. She has a lot of upside.”
A new district alignment this year has St. Ed’s competing against Holy Trinity Episcopal, Master’s Academy, Melbourne Central Catholic and Merritt Island Christian.
“Whoever wins this district will have to play at a very high level. I’m pretty sure Holy Trinity and Melbourne Central Catholic will be very tough,” Lamscha says. “Hopefully, we can match-up well against them.”
Lamscha described the outstanding chemistry he sees with this team.
“Our new players blended in well with the veterans. Everyone understands that nobody was happy about how the season ended last year. They’ve been working hard, pushing each other. The team will be feisty and play for the full 80 minutes. They have high expectations because I have high expectations. It’s exciting for me as a coach to build on that and to keep fostering that approach. The vibe is good. I’m very pleased.”
These are all things Lamscha should be familiar with.
He chalked-up 279 wins and six district titles in his 23 years as varsity head coach.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have some great individual players and teams good enough to win district championships and be competitive every year,” Lamscha said. “All the credit goes to the players. It’s a good reflection on all of us as well – the players, assistant coaches and the school.”
While everyone knows the players got the job done on the field for all those years, Lamscha wanted everyone to understand they all went above and beyond the call of duty by putting up with him.
