Shaler soccer coach preaches patience

By: Josh Rizzo
Thursday, September 12, 2019 | 5:06 PM

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Adam Hunter doesn’t want the Shaler Area boys soccer team to be too frustrated.

While the Titans coach knows the results haven’t been there early in the season, he believes they are on the horizon.

Shaler has been limited to two goals over its first five games.

“I keep reassuring them,” Hunter said. “We are creating and taking the opportunities. It is difficult when we haven’t had a score in the run of play. … We’ve been spending a lot of time on finishing and getting numbers forward. We are confident mentally. The boys are just upset they haven’t gotten the result.”

Shaler got off to an 0-4-1 start, 0-3 in Section 1-AAAA play, heading into matchups against Pine-Richland and Central Catholic. The Titans used to have a season-opening tournament, but decided to open with a single game against Bethel Park instead for several reasons.

Firstly, the cost of running the event was rising. Secondly, the rigors of section play were grueling.

“We are playing Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for the few weeks of section,” Hunter said. “That’s a lot of games and every one of them is a battle. We didn’t want to open the season with back-to-back games.”

Once Shaler opened section play, it had a wake-up call during a 3-1 loss to Butler.

The Titans knew they would have to be more physical moving forward.

“It’s difficult to generate the excitement from playing a game,” Hunter said. “Butler came out in the first half with playoff mentality and we weren’t ready for that.”

James Klonowski and Sam Bens are the only two Shaler players to record goals this season. Bens gave the Titans their only lead of the season, pocketing a goal in the first half of a 1-1 tie against Brashear Sept. 7 at home.

While Shaler didn’t score in its next contest — a 2-0 loss to Seneca Valley — Hunter felt like he saw marked improvement.

Titans sophomore goalkeeper Ian Weber didn’t concede a goal until the 58th minute.

“We came in focused,” Hunter said. “It was a complete mindset for the whole team. We want to try to fix individual mistakes, try to keep our mentality focused and build from there.”

Tags: Shaler