St. Ed’s varsity boys soccer team will host the district tournament next week led by a new head coach and an assistant coach quite familiar with the soccer culture at the school as well as the preparation required for the unforgiving nature of postseason play.
Chris Callaghan had a tough act to follow as head coach. Bill Keating amassed well over 200 wins and five district championships in 23 seasons. Callaghan’s assistant is none other than current athletic director and St. Ed’s Athletic Hall of Fame inductee Jeff Lamscha, a 300-plus game winner as head coach of the varsity girls soccer team through 2013-14.
So far the coaching combination of the new and the venerable has fared well. The Pirates were 8-3-2 overall, 5-2-1 in District 10-1A, with one non-conference game this week to close the regular season. St. Ed’s will face Holy Trinity Episcopal in the opening round of the district playoffs next Tuesday. The teams traded home wins during the regular season.
Holy Trinity Episcopal and Pine School are the teams to beat in the district tournament and that circumstance represents no departure from the recent past. They are always formidable at this time of year.
Callaghan lived overseas in West London before moving to Florida in 2013. He met his future wife Elizabeth on a trip to Florida and the couple relocated here to pursue her career. Callaghan quickly became a full-time soccer trainer with the Indian River Soccer Association. He realized at age 16 that coaching would be his future in a game he would play up to the semiprofessional level.
“While at IRSA I worked with some of the guys that are currently part of the St. Ed’s soccer program,” Callaghan said. “Last summer I got a call from Mr. Lamscha asking me to come in and talk about some of the opportunities working with the boys soccer team. I’m still a full-time trainer with the IRSA and in October I started working with St. Ed’s boys team.
“My first season has been very enjoyable and it presented many different challenges. It’s a balancing act between experienced players of various ages and levels and inexperienced players that have expressed a love for the game and want to combine that with representing their school on the team.
“We are trying to get the most out of everyone and keep them moving in the same direction. When you have several plates spinning, so to speak, you try to get everyone on the same page. The experienced players must learn to trust the inexperienced guys. I had to understand the capabilities of the inexperienced guys and get them up to speed very quickly as to what our expectations are and what they are supposed to do.”
Eight seniors graduated from the team last year and 10 of the 21 players on this roster were not on the varsity team last year. Callaghan inherited five seniors, five freshmen and three eighth-graders. No wonder he kept describing the situation as a balancing act.
“I knew the type of player we had in terms of character and what type of student I would be working with. The guys I worked with in the past at IRSA were all impeccable young men, great athletes, and their attitudes were spot-on.
“It was very similar when I met the rest of the squad. The only difference was the large gulf in experience.
“Our whole journey so far has been working toward a philosophy of soccer that is possession-based. Of all the different philosophies, this is the most difficult one to execute well under pressure. However, when everyone fulfills their roles and responsibilities – and uses the training and problem solving that we put into place – it is a very nice style of soccer to watch.
“Basically we are trying to build a team of problem solvers and good decision makers. They are not robots. In essence they are a group of coaches out on the field at the same time, if that makes sense.”
It does, and what also makes sense in having players that enable any system to work. The coach identified Will Sternberg, Zach Alerte, Juan Torres, Allan Ross and GK Britt Reisman as the “spine of the team.” They are all regulars on the stat sheet. Jordan Quaile and River Flynn are also in an emerging core of key contributors.
Nevertheless, Callaghan knows that additional assistance to the cause is always nearby.
“I’m back at it,” Lamscha said. “Chris is a new off-campus coach and we thought it would be a good idea to have an on-campus person help him out. It’s nice to be an assistant, to step in and know my role, and to help out where I can.
“I love being around the kids and I’ve always loved coaching. I’ve still got that competitive edge. I love how competitive and united this team is. The kids are hungry. It’s been a fun year.”
