Young Hawk soccer squads keep battling

HOUSTON -- The Houston High soccer coaches are literally starting from scratch.

Both the Hawk girls and boys welcomed a large group of athletes to the squads that are not only new to the team, but new to the sport.

On the girls side, 17 of the 19 players on the 2003 roster are playing soccer for Houston for the first time. Ten of the players are freshmen and until about a month ago many had not even stepped on to the soccer field.

On the boys' squad, only five of the 14 players return from last season.

Despite the youth and inexperience the Houston coaches agree that they are seeing incredible progression from their players.

"They have the get-go attitude," Houston girls' coach Raul Rodriguez said of his squad. "They are not afraid to go up against any team."

"They are working hard, hustling and getting to the ball," Hawk boys' assistant coach Chad Rice said.

To help fill spots on the roster, both squads have looked to the other Houston varsity sports for athletes.

One of Houston's two goalkeepers on the girls' team, Whitney Conn, is a member of the Hawks' girls' basketball squad.

"She has good hands," Rodriquez said

Mariah Smyth competes in both girls' soccer and track for the Hawks during the spring.

The boys' coaches recruited Matt Dischner and Jeremy Morlock from the hockey team, J.D. Welch and Garrett Bartels from the football squad and Steven Loeffler from the basketball squad.

Morlock nearly notched his first career goal in Houston's match against Colony on Tuesday. Morlock's shot rang off the post, but set up a goal by fellow Hawk Lok Lee.

"Jeremy is doing phenomenal," Rice said. "The way he is handling the ball, it looks like he has been playing for years."

Welch has been a mammoth on the defensive end for Houston. Welch can be easily seen on the soccer field with his hair dyed orange and a frame nearly double the size of the average soccer player in the Valley.

"J.D. is big, but he can run," Rice said.

Rice added that Welch has also served the role as a leader for the young Hawk team.

The boys' and girls' coaching staffs are both trying to build programs at Houston High School.

Houston is unable to field a junior varsity team and does not have a youth soccer organization to feed athletes to the high school.

"Our soccer program is not big," Rodriguez said. "We don't have the choices that other schools do."

Though their numbers equal just a portion of the total athletes that play soccer for other local schools, Houston is doing what is necessary to stay competitive.