For many years, soccer at South Summit High School was a bit of a springtime afterthought.
Second-year head coach Chris Burton is helping change that.
So far this year, the Wildcats are 5-1-1 and lead Region 14 play with 16 points. South Summit somewhat eradicated its demons of 2010 by trouncing region rival and defending 2A champion Waterford 3-0 on the road on March 28. The Ravens defeated the Wildcats twice last season by identical scores 3-2 once in overtime and the second time, in double overtime, in the 2A state semifinals.
“We’ve definitely rose to the occasion against the better teams,” Burton said. “Guys are working extremely hard. We’re having fun.”
South Summit is led this season by seniors Casey Lundgreen, Trevor Rydalch, Levi Thompson and Brayden Powers, who have, according to Burton, used their superior athleticism and size against their opponents.
“We’re an extremely athletic team,” Burton said. “That’s what most of the other coaches tell me.”
When asked to describe the style of play his team has adopted, he first chose the term “physical.”
“We are definitely a physical team and we’re trying to get some finesse in there,” he said. “We are a lot better than in years past in terms of passing the ball around and we’ve definitely improved with our touch and our control. We give other teams problems in terms of our physical play; we like to play right up the middle quite a bit.”
Burton said having some who have played soccer for years playing with the likes of do-it-all athletes such as Rydalch and Thompson (both stars on the school’s football and basketball teams) has helped his team find an identity and run with it.
“Realistically, a lot of these guys didn’t grow up playing a ton of soccer,” he said. “We always hoped that we could convert them into soccer players. They’ve done extremely well the last couple seasons. A huge part of the team.”
Thompson leads the team in goals scored this season with six, while Rydalch and Lundgreen each has three goals.
The Wildcats had already made their mark statewide before region play began.
The team tied 3A Carbon 3-3 on the road in the season opener on March 9 and then defeated 3A Morgan 2-1 at home on March 15.
Burton, who was an assistant on the team for three years before taking the head coaching reins, said seeing players blossom over the years is special to him.
“The program has come a long ways. We had a tremendous season last year,” he said. “I think every year has been a little better. It’s very rewarding to see these guys working hard and getting better every year.”
Defeating the defending 2A champion Ravens this year was an integral part of the growth process, Burton said, and any time you can defeat the team that bounced you the previous year, you have to appreciate that.
“Ever since last year, when we lost to them in the semifinals, we felt like that one slipped away from us,” he said. “We’ve been very anxious to play Waterford again. That one was definitely marked on our calendar.
“Any time you can play them tough and beat them like we did, it’s very rewarding.”
As for improving on the 2010 semifinal appearance, South Summit’s head coach said the road ahead won’t be easy.
“I think we’ll be right in the mix of things once again, and I know you hear this all the time, but we’re just taking it one game at a time,” he said. “All these region games are extremely important. Our region has kind of leveled out; there’s no gimmies this year like there were last year.”