Coaches: Jordan Brinkley (head coach), Jonathan Burtea (assistant coach), David Torres (assistant coach)

Top Returning Players: Anthony Aguiar-Casillas (12), Ezra Arias (12), Zachary Cardona (11), Ethan Castro (11), Nathan Cueva (10), Jaiden Duran (10), David Espana (11), Aidan Fichtelberg (12), Henry Garcia (12), Issac Morales (12), Tylo Pak (11), Abel Sandoval (12), Vladimir Sotelo (11)

Top Newcomers: Caleb Ahn (12), Ezekiel Arias (12), Alexis Arroyo Garcia (9), Mina Besada (10), Anthony Fiorini (10), Kevin Kim (9), Alex Lee (12), Jake Lee (12), Alexis Maldonado (12), Antonio Palencia (12), Jacob Vasquez (9)

Last Season: The Lancers finished first in the Freeway League with a 10-0 record (22-2-3 overall). After reaching the CIF Southern Section Division 1 finals, the team lost with a score of 2-0 to JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano.

Outlook: Coming out of a dominant season and starting the season with a new head coach, the boys soccer team aims to take first place in the Freeway League once again and strives to win a CIF title.

The Lancers have been preparing for the 2023-2024 season after losing multiple players in the backline to graduation last year. The team will especially miss last season’s Freeway League MVP and CIF 1st Team player, then-senior Mathias Brown.

“We are preparing the same as we always do: a lot of fitness, a lot of activities with the ball and positional play,” Brinkley said. “Right now, it’s mainly about fitness, mainly about mentality.”

Midfielder Castro said that a new head coach didn’t alter how the program is run or how the team practices.

“I think the coaches are doing well; there is not much of a difference in coaches because they still follow [coach] Schade’s principles and plans,” he said.

In addition to setting a goal of winning a CIF title, the head coach emphasized some additional goals.

“One thing to improve on would be leadership in general, especially players on the field; leadership and being unselfish is important on the soccer field too,” he said. “And I think this isn’t really a weakness, but it’s something that we did really well the whole year, but we came up a little short in the CIF finals — dominating the 18-yard box,” the area where goal kicks and free kicks are taken.

Castro said the team has a lot to live up to because of its successful run last season.

“I feel a sense of like we have to defend our reputation as a program,” he said. “We did lose some key players of our squad last year, but I feel like it doesn’t really affect us that much because we still have a decent foundation of a team.”

As a returning player, the junior said he aims to be a role model for the freshmen who joined the program this season.

“It’s just my job to introduce them to the rules and the program and just get them settled so they can perform at their best,” he said.

Newcomer Vasquez said he is excited for his first year in the program and hopes he can continue to improve as a player.

“We want to win the Freeway League,” Vasquez said. “For me, I would say my left foot needs to be stronger so I can be more versatile.”

Brinkley said his team’s mentality is unchanging, as the team was CIF Division 1 finalists last year.

“We know it’s not going to be easy,” Brinkley said. “Every [match] is going to be a battle and since we made it to the Division 1 finals last year, I feel like we are going to have a target on our back, and everybody is going to play their best [match] vs. us.”

The Lancers will kick off Freeway League play at home on Tuesday, Dec. 12, against Sonora High School at 3 p.m.