By K.D. Norris
The official scoring line from the local high school girls soccer game May 19 when Lee High School hosted Kelloggsville was a 9-1 win for the Legends in a match ended early in the second half, by MHSAA rule, when the hosts scored to make it an 8-goal lead.
But both teams advanced their program development in the late season clash: Longtime Lee coach Gabriel Snyder’s team continued to get better and better as they prepare to move into the Alliance League next season, and new Kelloggsville coach Randy Tate’s team continued to gut out a season of almost total rebuild.
Both teams lost all of their 2020 season due to the pandemic — Tate actually took over the Rockets program last season but was unable to work much with his team and new program.
Kelloggsville (0-7, with several games cancelled due to lack of players) fields a team filled with freshmen and sophomores, may of which have never played soccer before. But they scored their first goal of the year against Lee after sophomore midfielder Kalyna Flores out-hustled her defenders to feed speedy sophomore forward Anna Nguyen, who advanced the ball to an open area in front of her opponent’s goal and then outran the defense to the ball in the first half.
The Legends (6-11 after the win), on the other hand, had the advantage of not only having a deep bench but also 2021 seniors who learned leadership from last year’s seniors as Coach Snyder’s program continues to make strides, including with team chemistry.
“It was hard to begin the year, because we were not with them (much of the team) in the prior year,” senior Nayzeth Fernandez said to WKTV. “After I got to know them a little bit, my goal, actually was to go to them and tell them ‘Enjoy this year’ … because they (last year’s seniors) did not have one last year.”
In addition to Fernandez, other Legends seniors include Geidi Perez, Rosalinda Jacinto, Arely Fernandez, Emily Sanchez and Aracely Ortiz-Vieyra.
And all the seniors, all the players on the Lee bench, saw action in the win over Kelloggsville as the Legends jumped out to a 2-goal lead early on two scores by sophomore Lytsy Reyes within the first seven minutes of the game.
Then, after Nguyen’s goal for the Rockets, Lee build a 7-1 first-half lead on goals by Perez, freshman Janelly Sanchez (two of them), Nayzeth Fernandez, and sophomore Karla Cervantes. The Legends scored twice in the early part of the second half, the first by freshman Emily Campos and the second by sophomore Stephanie Mendez, to end the match.
Lee squad continues improvement as program grows
While this will be the Legends last season in the OK Conference, where they are likely the smallest school, coach Snyder says the Alliance League still will have tough teams but his team will continue to develop as well.
And just getting back on the field this season, after a year lost to the pandemic, is part of the reason for development.
“This has been an opportunity to do what we wanted to do — that has been absolutely thrilling to have the opportunity for our seniors to play,” coach Snyder, who has coached Lee for 13 years, said to WKTV.
Snyder said his program, as a whole, is in developing well with not only a junior varsity (JV) squad but also a freshman team.
“I am seeing our teams build that soccer knowledge,” he said. “We will compete no matter where (what conference) we are in.”
Kelloggsville squad will improve as coach builds program
“We have four players that have a little bit of experience, that we can build around,” Rockets coach Tate, who previously served two years as head coach of Grandville’s JV girls and was varsity assistant coach in 2019, said to WKTV.
“As a coach, you end up in this situation from time to time. This is not the first time I have build a program from the ground up. … As a coach, you just move the trend towards improvement. And as long as you keep that trend going, you don’t know what the upper limits are.”
Tate pointed out that he has several players having success at the middle school level who will be in high school next year. “And that should solve our numbers problem,” he added.
For all WKTV sports coverage, see wktvjournal.org/sports.
