The varsity boy soccer team welcomes their new head coach, Spanish teacher Mr. Casagrande. Casagrande has played soccer his whole life and coached soccer teams at previous high schools where he’s worked, along with being last year’s junior varsity coach. When the previous varsity coach had to step back from the team, Casagrande was eager to be able to take over this role. “I made the JV boys run a lot last year and I am working them even harder now that they are on varsity and I have full control,” Casagrande said.   

Casagrande does not want to have a weak team, and that shows in the amount of conditioning they do at practice. He is hoping for the team to have a far more successful season than last year; he has hopes of bringing them to state. He knows that in order to do this, the boys need to be putting in the work pre-season. “We have to run like four 100-meter sprints every practice, and then either do 100 push-ups or do a core workout that involves doing a four-minute plank,” winger Nico Omega said.  

The soccer boys are most certainly putting in the work this season. Their first game was against Snohomish High School. Going into this game, everyone knew it would be a tough battle, and it was. The Grizzlies were up 2-0 at halftime, but unfortunately finished the game in a 3-3. “It was not the outcome we had wanted, but for it being their first game, it is better than a loss,” Casagrande said.  

Ever since the tie to Snohomish, the team has beat Bothell High School in a tough match, coming out with a score of 2-1. “I am proud of the boys as they fought hard during this game, sometimes you have to struggle to win, and that’s what they did,” Casagrande said.  

The team’s next game is this Friday, Mar. 17 against Lewis and Clark High School. This game will be another tough game, but one that the Grizzlies can definitely win.