LEWISBURG, Pa. — 2020 was another magical season for the Green Dragons boy's soccer program ending at Hershey in the state title game with Lewisburg blanking Deer Lakes 6-0. For head coach Ben Kettlewell it's time to put the pieces back together for another run. And so far 4 solid wins with one against Moravian Academy and the other over Crestwood.
"I have a lot of young guys that are learning on the job right now and getting experience. Once we kind of get going and have more games I generally feel that they will come into their own and they will gain confidence," said Ben.
"I think that it is really important to get a lot of guys to get experience. Like last year we had a deep bench and I think this year we also have a lot of players who can come in and get the ball. So I think that getting each player individually to get better again makes the team as a whole able to get better," said Carter.
"The key for this Green Dragons team this year is to replace 3 fantastic guys lost to graduation and all of their goal scoring. Jack Dieffenderfer is at West Chester, Anthony Bhangdia is playing at Tufts and Ben Liscum is out at Penn State. Those three combined to score 100 or the 154 goals last season for a team that went (22-0) and won their 4th state title since 2000.
"Pretty much every day over the summer we we're working as a team because we knew that we had a lot of. We lost almost 100 goals last year so we knew we needed people to step up and that's really what we've been working on this year," said Philip.
"Last year I had to coach in kind of a different way, because last year's team was different. I think we had more speed so we played a little bit different than we do now just trying to teach these guys a different way to play. But these guys are responsive and it's fun to come out everyday with them," added Ben.
Rankings are one thing when talking about this team. Reputation alone slots them at the top in "AA" until somebody knocks them off. Results are what matters and getting better as a team is the goal now.
"This year I still think we have a lot of guys and quality, so obviously training is getting better and it's still there still there," again said Carter.
Steve Lloyd Newswatch 16 sports Union County.