By Doug La Rocque
It’s kind of prophetic that the two teams that shared the Central Hudson Valley League title last fall, and are considered two of the strongest teams this season, meet in the season opener this week. [private]The Loudonville Christian Eagles play host to the Mountaineers, a team Berlin coach Art Schmich feels will find the back of the net a lot this year.
Schmich tells the Eastwick Press “we should be a high scoring team. The only thing I am worried about is our depth, especially at mid field. We are OK there, but I would like to have a few more people off the bench.” Schmich also said he thinks the league as a whole is down a bit this year. “I think we can repeat,” but Loudonville is strong, as is Doane Stuart, especially on their home field. An unknown is Bishop Maginn, which is replacing Waterford in the league, and is a team Schmich has not seen yet.
Replacing An MVP In Goal A big hurdle the Mountaineers face this season, is the loss of Jackson Burhans to graduation. Burhans was arguably the best goalkeeper in Section II, all classes considered. Schmich said of his keeper’s abilities to guard the net this year, “it will be sufficient. It won’t be up to the same par as last year, and it is going to be a work in progress.”
A real bright spot for the coach is Ryan Willis, who he expects will score a lot of goals. He also thinks his wingers, Ioann Popov and Tyler Keller, will take a lot of pressure off Willis and become a formidable trio for opposing defenses and keepers to stop. Schmich said “we are not going to be a one-dimensional team.” [/private]