Coaches: Jordan Brinkley (head coach), Jonathan Burtea (assistant coach), David Torres (assistant coach)
Top Returners: Alexis Arroyo (10), Mina Besada (11), Zachary Cardona (12), Ethan Castro (12), Justin Covarrubias (10), Jaiden Duran (11), David Espana (12), Anthony Fiorini (11), Kevin Kim (10), Ruben Macedo (11), Tylo Pak (12), Vladimir Sotelo (12), Jacob Vasquez (10), William Weimholt (11)
Top Newcomers: Aaron Akramr (12), Daniel Diaz (10), Jakob Espinoza (9), Ian Han (10), Alexander Herrera (10), Johan Morales (11), Charlie Muñoz (9), Brandon Netzahual (9), Nathan Robinson (11), Aidan Salazar (11), Justin Um (11), Nicholas Urla (11)
Last Season: With many players expecting an end to the Freeway League because of CIF-Southern Section’s plan to revamp all conferences, Sunny Hills became the last school to win the division title, going undefeated with a 10-0 record. The team (17-3-2) was then ranked No. 1 in the CIF Division 1 playoffs but was upset in the first round by Orange Lutheran — a private school — in a 3-1 setback.
Outlook: This season, the Lancers find themselves in the Crestview League. Gone are the Freeway League teams that came from the same district as Sunny Hills such as Troy and Fullerton. Instead, the boys soccer team will have to go through schools in Orange, Placentia, Tustin and Yorba Linda to win the division’s first title and avenge its first-round CIF playoff defeat from a season ago.
That’s a task that the team can achieve, Brinkley said.
“Our goal is to win a league championship, and we have some really strong opponents that we are used to playing in the preseason over the last several years, like Foothill, Canyon, Yorba Linda and El Dorado,” the head coach said. “All four of them play hard, scrappy soccer that is annoying to play against, so we have to be able to follow our game plan as well as make adjustments during the season and during specific games.”
Co-team captain midfielder Castro said that the conditions are different this year because of the releaguing.
“This league is composed of teams that are farther than last year’s schools, so we will be doing a lot more traveling,” Castro said. “The teams in this league are also other D1 and D2 teams.”
He agreed that this change will be beneficial for the team.
“The new opponents will help us be prepared for CIF,” the midfielder said. “I believe that the long travel time will give us more time to focus and lock in on the bus ride to the game.”
Co-team captain center-back Fiorini, who works to prevent the other team from scoring and to help start an attack once the team wins the ball, described the new league as more difficult to win in.
“This league will be much harder for us to go undefeated like last season,” Fiorini said.
For Castro, last year’s early exit from CIF playoffs as a No. 1-seeded team after reaching the finals the season before remains a lesson that he and his group will be sure to remember heading into league play this week.
“Our first seed position did not make us feel ‘accomplished’ because we knew the job was not finished, and we had a lot of work to do until we could feel ‘accomplished,’” he said.
Brinkley agreed that this season will be unlike any from the past.
“We are going to be young this year, so we have to be super organized, good in possession, good out of possession, good in defensive transition and just the overall willingness to defend,” the head coach said. “We are not the team that is going to be winning games 4-3.”
Defender Muñoz said he’s looking forward to seeing how he can contribute to the team.
“I feel excited and motivated as it is my first season of high school soccer,” Muñoz said. “I also feel prepared and confident and ready to face any challenges we have this season.”
And that challenge will begin Friday, Jan. 3, at 3 p.m. when the boys soccer team (5-3-3) will open league play on the road against Foothill High School (7-4-3).
