Henry Huber on boys soccer: Grit, coachability helped Eagles turn rebuild into success
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When Bald Eagle boys soccer wrapped up last season in the District 6 Class AA semifinals, uncertainty clouded the expectations for its future. If there was certainty, it was that the program would be rebuilding as the team parted ways with eight seniors, including heavy hitters like striker Connor Maney, midfielder Kayson Tice and goalkeeper Henry Bacon.
However, cut to the following postseason, and that hasn't been the case. In fact, the Eagles head into this week's quarterfinal matchup against Juniata (16-4) with a record of 10-5-3, having surpassed last year's regular season win total by one. That success has been a pleasant surprise for longtime head coach Jason Bair.
"If you would have told me at the start of the year that that's what our record was going to be, I would have said, 'I don't believe you,'" laughed Bair following the team's tenth win over Penns Valley last Thursday. "We coached them up the best we could. They listened and learned, and I'm super proud of them."
The team is young, featuring just two senior starters and a plethora of starting underclassmen. In fact, its leading scorer - Jacob Kovalev - is just a freshman, with 15 goals to his name through 16 games on the field for the Eagles.
But where the program lacks experience and depth, it makes up for in grit and coachability. That latter aspect is what Bair credits the most when it comes to the new-look squad's quick turnaround, an aspect that has allowed the Eagles to grow and learn from their mistakes with each passing week of practice and competition.
"We have worked hard with these guys, but what I will tell you about each and every one of them is that they're coachable," said Bair. "They learn from their mistakes, and they work with us and say, 'I got you, coach.' We try to foster that in our program the best that we possibly can."
"It's the quality of the guys, not the quantity of the guys, and I'll take 15 guys that are willing to give me everything they possibly have to go out there and go," he added.
And the former aspect - grit - has come into play recently.
With an already small roster of 15, Bald Eagle went into its regular-season finale against Penns Valley missing three of its players and lost another late in the first half. Those absences included Kovalev, who's been a large part of the team's offense this season.
However, rather than buckle because of what they were missing, the Eagles made the most of what they had on the field. They weathered an early second-half deficit, the team's second leading scorer Parker Dubbs contributed two second-half goals and the Bald Eagle defense held the Rams scoreless for the last 35 minutes to secure the 2-1 win.
"Everything was against us. I'm playing with 11 in the second half, I have a defender with a bum ankle and a sub that's only supposed to be out there a short amount of time. He played the entire game for us," said Bair.
"This is Year 27 for me, and this is one of the grittiest games I've seen from my guys. I still have no idea how we won the game. These guys were just gritty, gritty, gritty, never gave up and kept fighting to the end."
It's a win that granted the team a momentum boost heading into a tough matchup in Thursday's district quarterfinal. After falling to Juniata, 1-0, in overtime last postseason, Bald Eagle gets a chance to avenge that loss as the District 6 Class AA tournament's No. 6 seed, with the Indians at No. 3.
That quarterfinal matchup is set 7:30 tonight at Juniata.