The Sunlake High School boys’ soccer team has reached the state semi-finals in the playoffs for three years in a row.
And, in each of those years, they’ve lost to the eventual state champion.
From the outside, it looks like an impressive string of successes that have established Sunlake as a perennial force on the pitch.
But for coach Sam Holeduk, who has led the team since the school opened in 2007, it is both a source of pride and also of frustration.
Michael Murillo/Staff Photo
“I think when you take a step back and look at it it’s amazing, our accomplishments. But at the same time, when you lose three straight years in the final four it’s a little frustrating,” Holeduk said.
This year’s team might be the one to end that frustration.
As they gear up for a new season, the coach believes his squad is as good as the ones that won nearly 90 matches over the past three years, while losing just five.
In some ways, he said, they’re better.
“Defensively, we’re probably the best we’ve been in years,” Holeduk said.
A big part of that defense is the goaltending. Danny Hrenko is now in his fourth year with the team, and the senior needs only a dozen more shutouts to set the national record.
That strong defense will be needed as the team tries to get back to the state tournament. Graduation affects high school teams every year, but the Seahawks lost a lot of firepower since last season.
Holeduk estimated that around 80 percent of last year’s scoring talent is gone.
To make up for those losses, the team will adjust its offensive identity. Previously it built its offense around spectacular players, and by making sure it had opportunities to score quickly and often. The team’s talent overpowered many opponents and let them cruise to lopsided wins.
This year, the coach expects a more balanced attack. Several players will be called upon to score goals, making it harder for opponents to predict which player will hurt them.
It’s a philosophy that best suits the team this season, but it’s not necessarily how things went when Koleduk was playing soccer. An athletic Hall of Famer at Saint Leo University, the former forward still holds the men’s career scoring record at the university.
He also played professional indoor soccer as well, and believes his own experiences as a player have helped create a successful program as a coach.
“You just pick up little things, things you can tell kids,” he said. “I tell them that’s how I got to the next level, by listening to coaches.”
Club soccer helps as well. All of his starters play at the club level, and many athletes on the junior varsity team participate, too. That extra coaching, experience and playing opportunity helps keep the high school team operating at a high level, Koleduk said.
While Sunlake has run into some talented teams at the state level, junior Sebastian Restrepo doesn’t mince words when explaining why they haven’t advanced to the state finals.
“We needed a lot more heart,” he said of last year’s semi-finals performance. “The other team wanted it more than us at one point.”
This year, he sees a team that’s more focused, works well together and has the synergy to go farther than previous seasons. Now in his third year on the team, Restrepo has become the county’s premier assist generator. But a new offensive attack means he’ll have to do a little more scoring himself, and he’s ready for the challenge.
“I’ll have to look for the goal now. Instead of giving them the easy passes for them to score, I’ll just take a shot here and there,” Restrepo said.
If those and other shots go in, Koleduk believes they’ll have another chance to advance one step closer toward a coveted state title.
Published October 28, 2015