By Elliott Lapin, Staff writer

The Crosby High School boys soccer program players pose after the end of the first day of tryouts on Dec. 6

The Crosby High School boys soccer program players pose after the end of the first day of tryouts on Dec. 6

Photo: Cougar Soccer Twitter, @crosbysoccer

The Crosby High School boys soccer program players pose after the end of the first day of tryouts on Dec. 6

The Crosby High School boys soccer program players pose after the end of the first day of tryouts on Dec. 6

Boys soccer: Crosby Cougars motivated to get back to the playoffs

Last season the Crosby Cougar boys soccer team missed the playoffs for the first team in three seasons. Since last season ended, the team has been focusing on the goal of returning to the playoffs.

The first day of tryouts was Dec. 6. The first scrimmage was on Dec. 13. The first match of the season is on Jan. 2. The first district game is on Jan. 28.

It makes us hungry to play games, said senior Hugo Lopez. We want to establish a winning mentality.

The 2019-2020 team returns seven starters and 13 varsity players. Among the returning players are: senior Jonny Encinia, a second team All-State player and first team All-District player from last season, senior Steven Godinez, a first team All-District player from last season, sophomore Antoni Sanchez and senior Carlos Enamorado, both second team All-District players from last season.

Coach Trevor Helburg sees all that returning experience as a significant factor this season.

Crosby tied Porter 2-2 in the scrimmage at Cougar Stadium on Dec. 13.

Our takeaways were we need to work on some of our defensive principles. We got a little lazy or disorganized in the backfield a bit, Helburg said. But there are some positives in that we went down a goal and came back and scored. A lot of guys made their varsity debuts.

Crosby plays seven non-district games throughout January before starting District 22-5A play on Jan. 28 at Galena Park.

Absolutely (I approach non-district games differently than district games), Helburg said. I think non-district the objective is to see who can play where, change the formations, try to make tactical changes and personnel changes, said Helburg. To see what works and what doesnt, so, when games really matter, you know what you can work with.

Enamorado said he is looking forward to the matches against Galena Park this season. Crosby lost both matches against Galena Park last season, and he said that he felt like the team did not plays as well as it could have in those matches.

Crosby has an early season non-district match at Dayton. The rivalry is known as the Highway 90 Showdown, as the two schools are separated by an 18-mile stretch of Highway 90.

Encinia mentioned that the players have been playing soccer together for many years, both in school and outside of school. Helburg agreed that the teams closeness is one of its biggest strengths.

I think theyre real important. Helburg said. Not necessarily the result, but how we play. We work a certain style of play. We try to do things a certain way, and we want to be able to see that in the first couple of games to see that all the work we put in the offseason has paid off. The result is not as important as the way that we approach it.

When asked about the teams goals for the season, Lopez made it clear that the team is approaching the season with one main goal, to make it to the playoffs.

elliott.lapin@hearst.com

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Boys soccer: Crosby Cougars motivated to get back to the playoffs - Chron.com