By Kyle LoJacono
Ask anyone on the Wiregrass Ranch boys soccer team who the top offensive player is and the only common answer will be that there isn’t one.
Instead, the Bulls (4-1) are relying on a balanced attack as they search for their first playoff berth since the 2009-10 season and their second in the program’s seven-year history.
“I think that’s one of our strengths,” said seventh-year Wiregrass Ranch coach Dave Wilson. “We don’t have a go-to player who you have to make sure gets touches to be successful. We’ve scored from midfielders, from backs and forwards. We collectively attack better than any team I’ve had here. … They understand that individually we’re not going to beat teams, but collectively with our starters and bench we can beat anyone.”
Part of that balance comes from necessity. The Bulls lost their leading goal scorer last year in Danny Diaz to graduation and top returning offensive threat Rokas Daugala, who tore his ACL playing club soccer. An ankle injury to senior Jake Day during the end of the football season removed another scoring option.
“He played in club this year, and Jake is a natural goal scorer,” Wilson said. “He decided to play soccer for us after being on the basketball team the last couple years. To all of a sudden lose your top two offensive threats is like wow. So there’ve been some question marks coming in, but we scored 10 goals in our first two games with six different goal scorers.”
Wiregrass Ranch now has 12 different players with at least one goal, including five who have multiple tallies. Senior midfielder Robert Castillo (one goal, four assists) said that shows how much depth they have.
“Every player is really solid this year, and that’s going to be to our benefit,” Castillo said. “Even to the bench everybody can play. There’s no difference when we sub anybody in. The tempo is the same.”
The offense has also gotten a young infusion from Brendan Duran. The freshman forward notched two goals in his first high school game, a 7-2 win against perennial power Land O’ Lakes Nov. 5.
“I didn’t think I’d be able to help the team too much, so I was very surprised that I scored twice against a team like Land O’ Lakes,” Duran said. He added, “I was just hoping to start on junior varsity. When I saw that I made varsity I was so surprised. I’m just trying to work as hard as I can to stay here.”
Graduation also hit the starting backline. The squad lost two-time Sunshine Athletic Conference (SAC) first-team selection in Sam Eder.
To further complicate the goal prevention, Logan Jones, who was the Bulls’ starting goalkeeper last year as a sophomore, made an academy squad in Clearwater. New FHSAA rules do not allow players to compete with such elite club programs and in high school, creating a void in Wiregrass Ranch’s net.
The Bulls have used a combination of Ryan Duran (four goals against, seven saves, 160 minutes) and Aaron Shimer (one goal against, five saves, 120 minutes) at goalkeeper in the early games.
“We come in with two senior goalkeepers who are untested, but have done well so far,” Wilson said.
Senior defender Andres Hernandez said everyone was worried when they heard Jones was not returning.
“We’re all a little bit on edge because with Logan, if there was a shot, we knew it would be OK,” Hernandez said. “Our goalies are stepping up and are playing really well. As they get some experience we won’t be as much on edge.”
Hernandez said the defense also has an advantage because they all play together with Wilson’s club team — the Wesley Chapel Athletic Association (WCAA) Flames.
In fact, 14 of the 22 on the Bulls roster play for one of Wilson’s two WCAA teams.
“That’s helped us a lot,” Hernandez said. “We’re together during the high school season and during club season, so we’re always around each other.”
Early wins mixed with team chemistry have Wiregrass Ranch thinking of a playoff run.
“You can feel that everybody is excited for the start, but we all know we’ve got a long way to go,” Castillo said. “It’s one game at a time, so we’re trying to stay relaxed and composed.”
Wilson said they will need that mentality along with their balanced attack to get out of Class 4A-District 8, which includes Freedom, Steinbrenner, Gaither, Sickles and Chamberlain.
“Every team you play in that district is good,” Wilson said. “There’s no days off where we can rest some guys. For us last year what was nice is we competed with them. We beat Chamberlain twice. Steinbrenner, which is a very strong team, they beat us 1-0. The first time we played Freedom it was 2-0, Sickles it was 2-0, Gaither was 1-0. Those are teams that traditionally go to the final eight or final four.”
The 4A-8 tournament is at Gaither Jan. 23 to 26, with the final Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.
Wiregrass Ranch hosted Anclote Nov. 26, but results were not available by press time. The Bulls travel to district rival Freedom Nov. 27 at 8 p.m.
—Follow Kyle LoJacono on Twitter: @Kyle_Laker
