New era, same goals for Lady Indians
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
For the past two seasons, the Hillsboro Lady Indians' girls soccer team has reached either the Division II Regional semis or finals as they did last season. Even with the berth in the Elite 8 last season, changes have come for the Lady Indians as they look for the same success once again.
Hillsboro, who finished 16-3-2 last season, most noticeably will have a new head coach in former four-year varsity assistant Jeremy Ratcliff.
Ratcliff takes over for former head coach Leslie Molen, who built one of the best high school soccer programs in the state as she won over 100 games in her coaching career, with her teams winning two district titles and making it to the final eight teams in the state one year ago.
Also gone are four seniors from last year who had big-time game experience in All-Ohio player Madison Colliver, Cheyney Myers, Taylor Davis and Rachel Sexton.
[[In-content Ad]]"We lost four good quality players, four good quality kids and four good quality leaders," Ratcliff said. "We lost some production on the field with those four graduating.
"The adjustment for the returning players, especially the upperclassmen, is somebody is going to have to replace that production. It doesn't have to be one person, and it shouldn't have to be one person, but we have to know some players are going to have to step up and have that kind of production on the field.
"Multiple players should step up and fill that leadership role left by those kids."
In the postseason last year, HHS went 4-1 in the postseason with wins over Unioto (3-2), Circleville (3-0), Fairfield-Union (1-0) and West Holmes (3-2). They lost to Granville, 3-0 in the regional finals.
The Lady Indians outscored their postseason opponents last year, 10-7, including two shutouts in their two district games.
But with all athletics, changes come, and Ratcliff knows the players and the program and wants to continue the success of the past for HHS.
The Lady Indians will have Kaylee Achor, Ashley Purtee, Trista Rhodes, Kaylynn Bell, Sydni Cox and Lindsay Ulicny as the seniors who are expected to be the leaders for Hillsboro. Rhodes was one of the leading scorers for HHS last season.
HHS also has a three-year varsity starter in Jalyn Yochum returning for her junior season, along with another three-year varsity starter in Mallory Sluss. At goalkeeper this year will be Carly Meyer, replacing the two-year starter in Sexton.
Achor, Bell and Rhodes will be four-year players for the Lady Indians.
"They understand the responsibility that is going to be placed on them … the entire senior class does," Ratcliff said.
With those seniors, HHS will have around seven to eight starters also back in the program to make another run at a district championship. To do that, it all starts with work in the summer.
"Our summer has been good," Ratcliff said. "We had good numbers with weight lifting and conditioning, summer tournaments. We had consistency between 25-35 girls work for us this summer.
"It was an interesting summer being my first year as head coach, but it was good. I appreciate the effort of the girls and the time they put in this summer. They worked hard."
HHS had two scrimmages this preseason, losing 1-0 to Western Brown and tying Jackson 2-2. They also played in a summer tournament at Wright State and in the Mason preseason tournament.
Ratcliff spoke about the differences of being a head coach compared to being the assistant.
"It is interesting … I enjoy it, but it has been a transition," he said. "Really, the biggest difference is the dynamic with the relationship with the players. When you are an assistant coach, you have a certain role that you play, and the kids get used to you in that role.
"When you step in the position of the head coach, that dynamic changes. You make roster decisions and are more of a disciplinarian than you were in the past. For the kids to get used to my philosophy and for them to get used to me in that role, it has been an adjustment for them, but they are coming around well. I have no complaints."
The varsity assistant this season will be Amanda Miller, and the JV coach is Catie Moberly.
With the season set to begin this Saturday, Coach Ratcliff knows the roles left vacant need to be filled.
"Some of the younger players who have paid their dues at the JV level or were spot players at varsity last year … some of those younger players are going to have to step up and play a bigger role or even a starting role," he said.
Even with the changes in the program, Ratcliff said the expectations are still the same, though he said they would be tested with their strength of their schedule this season.
"I told the girls this week that I don't have any plan to lower my expectations," he said. "Again, we lost some good players and some good kids, but my goals are the same … to win the league, win the district championship and go as far as we can.
"They know what it takes to get there. From here on forward, I want to see us becoming one unit … one team, not 11 individuals taking the field. That comes from playing together and practicing under pressure situations. I told them, get used to being uncomfortable in practice, because when we get uncomfortable in a game, we need to adapt on the fly."
The Lady Indians open the '14 season on Saturday in a non-league game at Eastern Brown High School.
Hillsboro, who finished 16-3-2 last season, most noticeably will have a new head coach in former four-year varsity assistant Jeremy Ratcliff.
Ratcliff takes over for former head coach Leslie Molen, who built one of the best high school soccer programs in the state as she won over 100 games in her coaching career, with her teams winning two district titles and making it to the final eight teams in the state one year ago.
Also gone are four seniors from last year who had big-time game experience in All-Ohio player Madison Colliver, Cheyney Myers, Taylor Davis and Rachel Sexton.
[[In-content Ad]]"We lost four good quality players, four good quality kids and four good quality leaders," Ratcliff said. "We lost some production on the field with those four graduating.
"The adjustment for the returning players, especially the upperclassmen, is somebody is going to have to replace that production. It doesn't have to be one person, and it shouldn't have to be one person, but we have to know some players are going to have to step up and have that kind of production on the field.
"Multiple players should step up and fill that leadership role left by those kids."
In the postseason last year, HHS went 4-1 in the postseason with wins over Unioto (3-2), Circleville (3-0), Fairfield-Union (1-0) and West Holmes (3-2). They lost to Granville, 3-0 in the regional finals.
The Lady Indians outscored their postseason opponents last year, 10-7, including two shutouts in their two district games.
But with all athletics, changes come, and Ratcliff knows the players and the program and wants to continue the success of the past for HHS.
The Lady Indians will have Kaylee Achor, Ashley Purtee, Trista Rhodes, Kaylynn Bell, Sydni Cox and Lindsay Ulicny as the seniors who are expected to be the leaders for Hillsboro. Rhodes was one of the leading scorers for HHS last season.
HHS also has a three-year varsity starter in Jalyn Yochum returning for her junior season, along with another three-year varsity starter in Mallory Sluss. At goalkeeper this year will be Carly Meyer, replacing the two-year starter in Sexton.
Achor, Bell and Rhodes will be four-year players for the Lady Indians.
"They understand the responsibility that is going to be placed on them … the entire senior class does," Ratcliff said.
With those seniors, HHS will have around seven to eight starters also back in the program to make another run at a district championship. To do that, it all starts with work in the summer.
"Our summer has been good," Ratcliff said. "We had good numbers with weight lifting and conditioning, summer tournaments. We had consistency between 25-35 girls work for us this summer.
"It was an interesting summer being my first year as head coach, but it was good. I appreciate the effort of the girls and the time they put in this summer. They worked hard."
HHS had two scrimmages this preseason, losing 1-0 to Western Brown and tying Jackson 2-2. They also played in a summer tournament at Wright State and in the Mason preseason tournament.
Ratcliff spoke about the differences of being a head coach compared to being the assistant.
"It is interesting … I enjoy it, but it has been a transition," he said. "Really, the biggest difference is the dynamic with the relationship with the players. When you are an assistant coach, you have a certain role that you play, and the kids get used to you in that role.
"When you step in the position of the head coach, that dynamic changes. You make roster decisions and are more of a disciplinarian than you were in the past. For the kids to get used to my philosophy and for them to get used to me in that role, it has been an adjustment for them, but they are coming around well. I have no complaints."
The varsity assistant this season will be Amanda Miller, and the JV coach is Catie Moberly.
With the season set to begin this Saturday, Coach Ratcliff knows the roles left vacant need to be filled.
"Some of the younger players who have paid their dues at the JV level or were spot players at varsity last year … some of those younger players are going to have to step up and play a bigger role or even a starting role," he said.
Even with the changes in the program, Ratcliff said the expectations are still the same, though he said they would be tested with their strength of their schedule this season.
"I told the girls this week that I don't have any plan to lower my expectations," he said. "Again, we lost some good players and some good kids, but my goals are the same … to win the league, win the district championship and go as far as we can.
"They know what it takes to get there. From here on forward, I want to see us becoming one unit … one team, not 11 individuals taking the field. That comes from playing together and practicing under pressure situations. I told them, get used to being uncomfortable in practice, because when we get uncomfortable in a game, we need to adapt on the fly."
The Lady Indians open the '14 season on Saturday in a non-league game at Eastern Brown High School.