Panthers’ new tact is to be more offensive
Alondra Garcia, no. 17, is on the move for the Central High varsity girls soccer team. The Panthers (0-0, 1-4) routed Reynolds, 8-0, on Tuesday for their first win of the season. Also pictured: Wendy Vargas, no. 2. More on this win as information becomes available. Photo by Lance Masterson.
There was no knee-jerk reaction when Alfonso Arturo was offered the position as head coach of the Central High School varsity girls soccer team.
No, he did his homework before accepting the school’s offer. He studied the program, talked to people in the know, and what he learned was encouraging.
“I wasn’t too familiar with the program. But I heard good things from people who live here,” he said. “I knew that the girls were coming in with one win (from last season). But they also had really good defensive stats. I knew I had to figure out how to build from that.”
His solution is to emphasize an offensive attack that includes each of his players.
“I have a specific way of playing with the offense,” he said. “Working together with our midfield, all the way down our defense, having a very attacking mindset … just having that hunger to score more goals.”
While hunger may be there, early results suggest it wasn’t being quenched. The girls have been outscored 12-1 in three preseason matches. Though two of these losses came against Class 6A Clackamas and Roosevelt.
“I feel like we’re playing a lot of tough teams,” junior Isabella Garibay said on the Panthers’ behalf. “But we’re learning a lot about our positions and how each of us plays. We’ve got new players we need to start connecting with, and we’re learning their playing styles.”
Still, there are positives for teams that punch above their playing weight.
“A lot of the Portland teams, they have a lot of club players. These are girls who have been playing together for years and years. Portland is well known to be the soccer city of Oregon,” he said. “So it’s a good challenge for the girls. Because I think the only way we can help move the program up is to face programs from the Portland area.”
Garibay is up to the challenge.
“Portland teams are always going to be rough,” she said. “But we learn something new every game. And we’ll be learning more things that we need to work on. We’ll continue doing that for this season.”
Panthers pictured are Lucia Landeros (no. 16) and Mica Tonnsen (6). The girls open Mid-Willamette Conference play Tuesday at South Albany. Photo by Lance Masterson.
Based on their schedule, the Panthers should be learning a lot. Of the eight teams they fact this preseaon, jamborees included, seven are in Class 6A.
Arturo inherits a young team - there are just seven seniors in the program - so a majority of his players will have an opportunity to grow and develop under his guidance. The age factor only enhanced his desire to coach this team.
“I saw that we had a really young squad. It was one of the reasons why I got involved,” he said. “Because I knew that I was going into a program where I’ll have a good amount of girls for the next couple of seasons.”
Despite doing his homework, one thing did catch Arturo off-guard: The skill level of his players.
“Before I came in and met with the girls, I wanted to focus on rebuilding the program. But I learned that these girls are way more ahead than I assumed,” he said. “So we’re bringing a lot more competitiveness in here, along with wanting to bring in the discipline that is required to play with tough programs.”
Garibay wants to see improvement from a year ago.
“My goal this season is getting multiple wins, not just one,” she said. “We played really good last year. But the scores on the board were not reflecting how well we played. This year, what I really want is for our scores to reflect how hard we’ve been working.”
Arturo has coached in the Salem-Keizer School District for years. He’s a former head coach of the McKay High School varsity girls team. He coaches at Whiteaker Middle School while coaching the Panthers.
