Boys soccer team makes strong comeback this season

The Westside boys soccer team is making a very strong comeback in the back half of the season. The Warriors started their season a bit shaky, but after making it to the semi-finals in the Metro Conference Tournament, Westside is back in the mix of contenders for the State Title.  The Warriors have raised their record to 8-5 on the season. 

After beating number one seeded Millard South and Bryan in the Metro tournament, head coach Mike Dean spoke about his feelings regarding the performance.

“I was really pleased with the first two games at Metro. It was really good to see us comeback after our poor performance against Gretna,” Dean said. “The semi-final was a tough one to swallow because we looked extremely tired from the two previous games and just weren’t at our best.”

Junior midfielder Coehen Rusin also explained what he thought about the team’s performance at the Metro tournament. 

“It was a good performance, we got some upset wins over big teams. It felt really good, getting the number one seed Millard South was a big upset for us to get and hopefully we can carry on with that, ” Rusin said. “ I think a big part of our loss was getting tired, it gets really heavy on your legs playing that many games in that amount of days.”

Coach Dean talked about what he believed led to the loss and what the team can learn from it in order to have success further into the season.

“Papillion South is a good team. Our style of play slightly played into their qualities, especially when fatigue was creeping in from the Bryan and Millard South games, ” Dean said. ”They are a great counter attacking team and deserved the win.”

Talking about the team’s mentality, Dean also spoke about the magnitude of the second half of this season.

“Not only do we view every game as big, but the next two games will determine if we host districts or not,” Dean said. “And as we’ve learned in the past few years, hosting Districts gives you an edge to get closer to the state tournament.”

Rusin also spoke about the “must win mentality” heading into the coming games in order for them to get back on track.

“We play Bryan on Thursday and we got that must win mentality because ultimately our goal is to host districts,” Rusin said. “Hosting districts is always a big goal for us so hopefully we can do that and go on to state.”