Blue Devils relish opportunity to put boys soccer program on new trajectory toward success

QUINCY — Leave the past behind you.

It’s an adage seemingly as old as time, but it’s as relevant today as it has ever been. Just ask the Quincy High School boys soccer players.

Coming off a 3-16-2 campaign that matches the fewest victories in a single season in program history, the Blue Devils haven’t forgotten what took place, but they refuse to dwell on it. It’s motivation now, sort of like a launching point to a new trajectory.

“We look back on what we could have done better, but we have to focus on this year,” said senior forward Trace Routh, a returning first-team All-Western Big 6 Conference selection. “We have to turn it into a positive this year.”

They do that by turning the page.

“We just have to look ahead and don’t look in the past,” said senior defender Bennett Soltwedel, an honorable mention All-WB6 selection last season. “We have a new team. We have a new starting lineup. Just look to the future. Don’t think about the past.”

The future begins with a positive approach.

“We’ve wanted to promote a positive and competitive training environment, and I think the camaraderie piece is huge when you talk about positivity,” said QHS coach Ron Bridal, entering his ninth season at the helm. “A positive and competitive environment is going to allow us to be successful this season.”

Better camaraderie is where it begins.

The Blue Devils return a solid corps of leaders with an injection of spirit from the return of senior forward Kade Parkhill. Sidelined last fall after undergoing shoulder surgery, Parkhill spent the fall on the sideline as both an ardent supporter and a voice of inspiration.

That voice grows louder now that he’s back on the field and healthy.

“First, we have to get the team chemistry right,” said Parkhill, an honorable mention All-WB6 baseball player last spring. “Even though I wasn’t out there last fall, I could tell it was a little iffy. It was a lot of players’ first year being out there. We have quite a few returning players. We’ve all grown up playing together. The camaraderie is building.”

A better connection should lead to better creativity and more opportunities to score.

Offensively, the Blue Devils need a boost.

Limited to 23 goals as a team last fall, they understand the need to produce more. Quincy was shut out nine times last season and limited to one goal eight other times. It’s made finishing a key point of emphasis this fall.

“There’s two pieces,” Bridal said. “One is the physical piece of just being able to finish and put the ball in the goal. The second is the mental game and the psychology of it. Talking with a couple of the guys about it, it really comes down to confidence. As confidence builds and kids are in front of the net more and more and more, we’ll see more finishing.”

The ongoing conversations about scoring are helping.

“We’ve stopped in the middle of our scrimmages and talked about how we could have gotten a better finish,” Routh said. “We analyze it to make sure we’re getting the best opportunities to finish.”

Should someone struggle to finish, the conversation is supportive, not condemning.

“I like how we’re able to talk to each other and talk through our differences without getting a bunch of emotion built up,” Bennett said. “I think we work together well.”

They’re competing with each other, too.

“We’re in a spot where we have more than four kids competing for four starting spots defensively,” said Bridal, whose team opens its season August 28 at Springfield Southeast. “We have more than one kid fighting for the goalkeeper spot. We have more than three kids fighting for midfield spots. That’s the same at forward. I think that competition at every position is going to help us in back and in our attack.”

The memories from a year ago will as well, even if they simply stay in the back of everyone’s mind.

“It was clear from day one they were ready to get going and were motivated,” Bridal said. “Their competitiveness and their fire is there. We try not to talk about (last year’s record) because it’s in the past and we want to focus on the future. But sometimes it is a motivating thing. And you can tell, these kids are motivated.”

Extremely motivated.

“We have what it takes to improve a lot,” Soltwedel said. “Last year is going to push us to be better than what we’ve been.”