Dragons looking to raise the bar

Courtesy of the Pilot News

ARGOS — A year ago, the Argos boys soccer team had an up-and-down regular season which included losing head coach Todd VanDerWeele for their tournament run to health issues but during that tournament run showed their true selves falling in a hard-fought contest to Park Tudor in the regional final.
This year the expectations are just as high with a solid mix of players up and down the roster that have been battle-tested.
“The bad thing about having small senior classes the way we have the last couple of years is the experience, knowing how to go through the battles,” said VanDerWeele. “The good thing is that those young kids that have gone through those battles with them are now older and we’ve got a junior and senior class that have been through those battles. They’ve learned a lot in that process. We still have a lot of work to do but I’m looking for a pretty solid year out of this group.”
A solid senior class is a big reason. A year ago as juniors, they were a big part of the tournament run for the Dragons.
“Some of those guys haven’t been in the limelight but they are guys that do the work night in and night out,” he said. “They are a really good group and I think they are realizing this is their last go around so they might as well make a run at things and see how it goes.”
To that end only a week or so into practice VanDerWeele is seeing the start of the urgency he needs.
“You’re starting to see guys work harder in practice and call other guys out — not in a bad way but just ‘hey we’ve got a game in a week we have to be ready,” said VanDerWeele. “Because of the expectations that we have for this group I’ve probably been pushing them a little bit harder than I’ve pushed a group in a while, but they are responding well.”
“I can get on them and we can have a good practice but we’re not looking for short team gains,” he said. “We’re looking at raising the bar and they are starting to do that. Last night we were doing some conditioning and a few of the younger kids were struggling and I had older kids go over and run with them to help them finish their repetition. It’s a positive thing. Sincere help and helping those kids get through it. I think it shows growth and we have to have that growth if we want to make this season worth remembering.”
“I think deep down they know this team could be pretty solid by the end of the year,” said VanDerWeele. “Everything this year positive or negative is going to be based on the mental aspect of the game. I think we have the horses that we can be solid but it’s how are we going to deal with adversity how are we going to keep our composure.”
“We’ve had our ups and downs over the summer but the kids are starting to see that if we keep the highs not so high and not go so low on the lows we will be more consistent and keep that playing level higher.”
Joining the Hoosier North Athletic Conference (HNAC) over the off-season gives the team a new set of challenges.
“We are the new team in that conference and I don’t know what to expect. Every team except Oregon-Davis is in our sectional so it will be interesting to see how that plays out. It’s a good challenge for us,” said VanDerWeele.
“The one thing that has me worried about the season is the lack of depth. If guys start to get hurt it would put some strain on the younger guys but I think that 10 wins is reachable for this team, and we should be able to contend for sectional.”