To coach Jason Pavlich, his players are ahead of schedule.
His Red Hook High School girls soccer team graduated 10 seniors and seven starters, but haven’t shown any signs of a group in rebuild mode. In fact, the Raiders have all but dominated this season, winning their first 10 games. Their latest victory came Thursday, defeating visiting Marlboro, 9-1.
Obviously, the undefeated start has pleased the coach
“The timing had been a pleasant surprise,” said Pavlich, who in his 19th year at the helm collected his 250th career win last month. “I knew they’d be capable, I didn’t know it would happen this early in the season.”
But, Pavlich understands the age-old phrase, “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” Last year, his Raiders earned the number three seed in the Section 9 Class A tournament. Red Hook, though, was ousted in the quarterfinals in a 3-2 double-overtime loss to sixth-seeded Minisink Valley.
The previous two years, Red Hook reached the finals but fell short.
“It’s all about peaking at the right time,” the coach said. “Last year it happened too early for us. There are always things to improve on to make sure we’re at our best when it matters. The streak is great, I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished, but it doesn’t mean anything until the postseason.”
While the playoff seeds won’t be determined until Oct. 22, Red Hook is making the most of its regular season through a balanced attack.
Against Marlboro, seven different players scored goals: Kelcie Horst, Grace Hennig, Samantha Riley, Samarra Fernandez, Casey Shein, Leah Lipke and Stephanie Petrie.
Pavlich said he’s glad the offense has been nicely distributed this year, following the graduation of leading scorer AJ Fuchs-White.
“The balance is very good this year,” he said. “Last year we were reliant on AJ and there’s much more balance in our attack.”
Pavlich was quick to deflect credit to his players, past and present, for his 250th career win. The milestone came on Sept. 12, in a 6-1 win over James I. O’Neill.
“It just means I’ve been doing this a while,” he said. “And it means I have players that are willing to put in the work and are of good enough quality to keep rolling every year.”
Red Hook has four games left on its regular season schedule, starting with a road game on Saturday against Newburgh Free Academy.
“We once again want to continue to move the ball around as a team,” Pavlich said. “Go in looking for a win and improve on little aspects while doing the big things right.”
A.J. Martelli: [email protected]; 845-437-4836; Twitter: @AJ_Martelli
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