Cougars’ Boys Soccer Team Moves Past Forgettable Season

For the Capistrano Valley boy’s soccer team, the success or failure of the 2010-2011 season depended simply on how well they could develop a case of amnesia.

Forget about last season, when the Cougars started off by winning their first nine matches and ended with them losing their last 10.

Forget about last year’s head coach, who was gone anyway and replaced by an Englishman who knew nothing about the program's past or even its players.

Forget about this seaon's rankings, which had the team No. 1 in the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 coaches' polls for several weeks, until the Cougars slipped to No. 5 following a tie and loss in the opening week of South Coast League play.

And forget about other people’s expectations, trying to make up for last year’s lost season, and being something or somebody they’re not.

Instead, they needed to start remembering why they chose to play soccer in the first place.

“It definitely feels good to start over,” said Ben Manko, a senior defender and one of the leaders for the Cougars this season. “We didn’t jell as much as we would’ve liked last season, and we got down on ourselves when we started losing. We’ve played well together and we all want to do well for our season.”

New coach Jason Sorrell, who last coached the women’s team at Chapman College and before that was the coach at Mater Dei, was hired as an English teacher at Capistrano Valley a year ago. Four years ago, he had applied for the vacant girls soccer coaching position at Capistrano Valley, which went to Manny Romero. But when the boys varsity position opened up after last season, Sorrell was asked by the administration to apply and he got the job.

Sorrell said he knew little about the returning players or what happened last season, but was reinvigorated to take over a program that traditionally had been a soccer contender, even though he would inherit a team with only four returning players.

“The No. 1 thing I wanted from my players was discipline, and we haven’t had a red card this season,” Sorrell said proudly. “I didn’t know what to expect coming in, but after seeing what we had, even after tying five times and losing once, I knew we could be better. Change is good sometimes. A different voice can be a good thing.”

Leading the Cougars’ attack are senior defenders Jensen Lee and Manko, who tend to play every minute of most matches; midfielder Jon Chavez, who Sorrell calls, “a real driving force” for the team; sophomore Kevin Baboiyan and senior Mario Soto, a top goal scorer, and two sophomore goalkeepers in Matt Bermudez and Teddy Czaja, whom Sorrell calls “both fantastic.”

Sorrell admits that the Cougars (10-4-7, 0-2-2 in league) may be a year away from contending for both a league and Southern Section title, though a playoff berth is possible with victories in their last two league games, Feb. 5 at Dana Hills and Feb. 10 at Trabuco Hills.

But the pieces are in place and the focus is clear: Forget the past, play each game like it’s your last and make your own luck.

“We have tremendous skill players. Our only problem is being consistent,” Sorrell said. “I tell the kids, ‘Don’t look at the rankings,’ but I know they do. Our goal at the beginning of the year was to win one game at a time. If we win one game at a time, good things will happen.”

And bad things will be long forgotten.

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Capistrano Valley Boys Soccer 2010-11 Roster

No.   Player

GK -- Matt Bermudez

GK  -- Teddy Czaja

2 -- Kevin Baboiyan

4 -- Garrett Yacovone

7 -- Ryan Steska

8 -- Danny Soto

9 -- Nick Godfrey

10 -- Christian Aguayo

11 -- Michael Haubenschild

13 -- Ben Manko

15 -- Jon Chavez

17 -- Ivan Villanueva

18 -- Dylan Browning

19 -- Alex Cook

21 -- Erick Ornelas

22 -- Jensen Lee

23 -- Mario Soto

25 -- Eric Jones