See what Coach Jason Behler and some of his players had to say about the upcoming Henry Clay boys’ soccer season.
Jared Peck, Real-Time Sports Reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader and co-founder of SoccerintheBluegrass.com, visited all nine Lexington high schools and spoke with coaches and players about the upcoming season. Over the next several days, SITB will release the notes and videos from those interviews that were used for the Herald-Leader’s preseason preview: Boys’ soccer: Will state’s toughest region turn out a new contender?
KHSAA link: Henry Clay schedule
Coach Jason Behler
I’ve got a huge and experienced senior class that’s ready to put their imprint on the Henry Clay history pages with a great season, I think. Last year, we had a smaller senior class. A lot of these guys as juniors got playing time. Really we lost three senior starters, some other seniors that contributed, but three senior starters. So a lot of these (who were) juniors and a couple of sophomores, even, played a lot of minutes last year. So, we’re bringing back an experienced team that lost a tough game to Dunbar in the regional semifinal, but I think was just as good as any team in the region last year. And I think we can compete with anybody in the region this year.
We have some great seniors. Ethan, Henry and Colby have been playing varsity since they were sophomores. They were an integral part of that state semifinal run in 2015. I find the teams that are good senior classes and good sophomore classes tend to be successful overall, and, again, that’s what we have this year, some really good seniors along with some really good young guys that are coming up that are hungry to take varsity minutes. I’m really looking forward to that dynamic of old and young working together. These experienced players, it’s been fun to watch them work with these younger guys.
We’ve also got a new 12th-grader to the mix from Madison Central, he transferred from there, a central-midfield player. A very nice, skilled player, that plays club with a lot of these guys and I think that Fez will make a big impact to this season. (Nefez Boutierie?), … just making this team solid again at every position.
If this team’s not successful, that’s completely on me because we’ve got all the pieces to be very good.
We’ve got two juniors and a sophomore vying for that position (goalkeeper). It’s been a good battle, so far. One of the junior players is a converted field player, one of the other junior players hasn’t been with the program the last two years, but decided to come out and they’ve created some real competition. The sophomore is very solid. He’s been playing with us since he was an eighth-grader. (Ethan Anderson, so. Ben Santer, Sam Hayden.) Nothing solidified yet.
Our region is absolutely brutal. You can have all eight teams in the top 25 coming into postseason that make the regional tournament. So, the team that comes out of the 11th Region is always going to have a shot to win a state championship. The big things we are looking for is getting to that point, making the regional tournament. And if you can get through the 11th Region, you definitely have a shot at winning state.
Ethan MacGillivray, senior mid
We’ve got a good team and I think we’ll make some noise this season. We’ve got a good core and not too many at any one position. We’re well spread out (with) good players everywhere on the field.
Colby Rose, senior mid/defender
We’ve got a new look team, a good team. I’m looking forward to playing everyone.
I think with a strong senior class we definitely have a lot that can build around us and make some noise.
