The Princeton Panthers’ soccer season may just be getting underway, but the boys have been hard at work for some time. A year ago, a talented roster came up just short of a postseason appearance, led by an experienced group on the back end.

Fast forward to the upcoming season, and many of those experienced faces are gone, which would typically mean a step back for most programs. However, the expectation is not just that the Panthers won’t take a step back, but that they can move forward.

Despite a young roster, Coach Kent Ackmann has taken an aggressive approach throughout the summer and fall to help put this roster in a position to succeed this season. It’s an approach that he thinks can help this team find their way into the playoffs, while also being a process that may last well into the regular season.

“We are very young across the board,” Coach Ackmann said. “We only have two returning seniors that saw varsity minutes last year. We communicated patience with our guys early in the year. Everyone is aware of what we had graduate. We have purposely scheduled some challenging scrimmages to push us to get experience in a lot of situations. We are preaching patience and communication.”

While a busy preseason slate can help solve some of the issues with experience, that’s not the only place Coach Ackmann wanted to see his team improve. He also wanted to see new players step into leadership roles both on and off the field this winter.

“When school started in August, and even before then, we started pushing a lot of players to develop some leadership skills,” Coach Ackmann said. “I think the worst thing a coach can do is just tell someone to be a leader. We took 10 members to early leadership training over the summer. We did video meetings. We started learning about accountability. We did another 10 at the start of school, then another 10. Our goal is to help equip these kids with those skills and how to be accountable.”

Nowhere on the roster will see more turnover than on the defensive end. All four of Coach Ackmann’s starting defenders from last year have graduated, creating quite the conundrum in a part of the field that Princeton is usually pretty good.

“First and foremost, one of our goals is to replace a veteran back-four,” Coach Ackmann said. “All of them were seniors last year, including several other players that rotated in. That has been priority number one since we got back to it. We’ve got some guys stepping up from (junior varsity). We’ve also got some guys that are trying a new position, moving to the back-four. We are just trying to find some continuity back there.”

Fortunately, he’s seen several players step up in an attempt to replace those minutes. Junior Sebastian Lopez and sophomore Ernie Fernandez have both excelled during the preseason as the Panthers’ two center backs.

A smooth transition for both will be a big key to a successful campaign. That will be even more important, considering the team also has a three-way competition between Sebastian Perez, Mason Harris and Jonathan Sanchez for the goalkeeper position.

“Our foundation has always been focused on a team-oriented defensive approach,” Coach Ackmann said. “We take pride in not giving up a lot of goals. A lot of our scores last year, in a very competitive district, were of the 1-0 or 1-1 nature. We always say our first defender is our forward. It’s a concept we all by into. We are always going to hang our hat on a strong defensive structure.”
“(Sebastian Lopez and Ernie Ferenandez) did a tremendous job for us on (junior varsity),” he added. “They’ve gotten a lot of the minutes in scrimmages. We’ve rotated a lot of guys around them. We just have to find the right mix of players back there and get familiarity with each other.”

Another helpful piece will be the return of the guys who lines up right in front of the two young center backs. Junior Diego Ledesma has been a starting center midfielder since he was a freshman. His experience should go a long way to making things easier on his defensive teammates.

“He does a great job protecting our center backs,” said Coach Ackmann. “He provides us with a lot of toughness and grit in the middle of the field. He wins challenges and distributes the ball well. He is one of a lot of returners in our midfield.”

Indeed, Coach Ackmann will lean on the experience of his midfielders this year. It’s a year that is set to get busy with January finally here. The Panthers are traveling to Austin for their first tournament of the season in the Longhorn Challenge this week.

The boys will open the three-day event on Thursday, Jan. 4 with matchup with McAllen at 7 p.m.

By Austin Smith • [email protected]

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