Graduation is a fact of life that all high school coaches deal with on a yearly basis. Naturally, some years are tougher than others.
For Woodrow Wilson head boys soccer coach Steve Laraba, the blow was pretty severe.
This year the Flying Eagles will have to fill the holes left by former captains, Carson Eckley, Hayden Johnson and Evan Laraba, as well as the loss of keeper Josh Farnsworth among others.
“I don’t want to downplay the previous classes in anyway, but we had a lot of really good leadership. Carson, Evan and Hayden are some big holes to fill,” Laraba said.
While he knows those former senior standouts left some big shoes to fill, Laraba is confident somebody will step in to fill those roles.
“Somebody steps up every year. Those guys had to grow and develop too. Carson showed up last year with another gear that we didn’t know about. So, somebody is going to step in and show that they have done some work or grown and now they are a different player,” Laraba said. “Last year we wondered what we would do to replace Isaac Roop’s athleticism and speed. Jack Grimmett grew up not only as a person, but as a player and he was huge for us. He had some really big goals in some really important games.”
Grimmett, along with Jackson Quattrone and Connor Mollohan are the returning players with the most experience in regards to varsity minutes for the Flying Eagles.
Woodrow Wilson also has a collection of players that are excited to get their chance in the spotlight.
“Those three will be big for us for sure. Nick Gunnoe has been around since he was a freshman and he has really grown and developed as a goalkeeper, so he will be important for us,” Laraba said. Tyler Randolph will be key for us in the back. The Bell twins (Cooper and Aiden) are juniors, but they have been out here playing since they were freshman. There are several players that have a lot of time and experience.”
Laraba also expects help from a group of players that were freshman last year.
“The thing with boys is that they come in as a freshman and really haven’t hit their growth spurt yet. You give them a year and everybody is a different size,” Laraba explained. “The difference between a freshman in August and a freshman in January is massive. There will be multiple people that step up. I know there will be.”
The veteran coach is also blessed by good numbers this year with roughly 35 athletes making up this years team which will foster good competition for playing time.
“Some of them will play both, but if you can have a 20-player varsity roster and then another 15 that play JV, that gives everybody a lot of time. Injuries happen and players may need to sit out,” Laraba said. “The good thing is these kids coming in are not used to sitting the bench. They will put in the work and earn their time, but some of those guys are chomping at the bit to get in there. The minute somebody starts to slack off, they will jump in and take that spot. That is a good thing.”
Woodrow Wilson is the reigning Class AAA Region 3, Section 2 champion, but going back-to-back will not be an easy task.
“The section is always tough. There has been a different sectional champion the last four or five years,” Laraba said. “I think Princeton may have won it two years in a row a few years back, but they are all big, competitive games.”
Greenbrier East returns a strong team along with Oak Hill that won the section two years ago.
“Princeton was down a little bit last year, but they were very young and they got a lot of experience. They are going to be very good,” Laraba said. “Nobody is blowing anybody out in this section. If you are not on your game, you will get punished because everybody is good.”
Even with the losses experienced by graduation, Laraba has no doubts his team will be in the mix by the postseason.
“I think we will be a solid team. Even though we graduated so much, we do have several players with experience,” Laraba emphasized. “We have a really good group of young players coming in. They will just have to get used to the speed and physicality and even just the grind of high school soccer.”
Woodrow Wilson opens the season Aug. 19 when it hosts Fairmont Senior at Paul Cline Stadium.
