Cascade soccer team seeks to return to state semifinals

No doubt, the sky is the limit for the Cascade Boys’ soccer team. Last season, Cascade ran through the regular season undefeated on the way to league and district titles. It seemed they had a great shot to win the state title, but unfortunately they lost both games in the finals.
Cascade comes back in 2018 with a great lineup, ready to make another run for state. The Kodiaks are led by co-head coaches Pete Spiegel and Jesus Sandoval.
“We’re excited for this year. We really want to build on what we did last year. We know that will be difficult, but it’s a challenge the team is up for. To get out there and start playing again, it’s an exciting prospect,” Spiegel said.
The foundation of the team comes back this year. They only lost three starters.
“It’s nice see we have a lot of young guys on the team to work with and build from that. If think about what we have this year is really only two seniors, it will be really nice to work with those guys the next two or three years. We’re looking forward to that,” Sandoval said.
Cascade was lead last season by freshman Arturo “Cholo” Avila. He’s back this year with great expectations.
“We have some great talent on the team. We have our high scorer from last year who was freshman. It’s going to be great for us. He’s a guy the guy can count on, Chulo. Raul Mata does really well and can play different positions. He does well wherever we put him,” Sandoval said. “We’re excited to see the different formations we can use with those guys because we know most of those guys can play the positions we want them to play.”
Senior Jose Mendoza is back in goal.
“That is really nice to have Jose back there. The whole team feels safe when he’s on the goal. Having him in leadership, and he’s one of our captains this year, is just great,” Spiegel said.
The goal this season, Spiegel said, is to build upon last year.
“It would be nice to be league and district champs. If everything goes well, we’d like to get back to the final four of the state tournament. We’re going to set high goals because we were able to do it last year,” Spiegel said.
Spiegel said it will be much tougher to go undefeated again.  
“Everything needs to fall into place to make that happen. Last year, things did fall into place pretty nicely. We don’t expect that to happen. There are going to be bumps in the road. We’ll have some injuries. That’s what makes a team better, having adversity, working through it and getting better,” Spiegel said.
The main rival in league is again Chelan, but Cashmere could also surprise.
“Chelan is probably a pretty strong team. Cashmere will be a really good team, with some incoming freshman who are good. We know a lot of those kids. The league and competition will be really good,” Sandoval said. “ In non-league, Brewster brings a great group. Keep in mind how well we did last year. Those teams will bring their best game against us.”
The schedule for 2018 is packed with tough non-league games.
“On our schedule, we’re playing Kings, Sultan, Ephrata, Quincy, Selah, Prosser. We’re playing really good teams. The schedule is tough and that is good. We wanted to try and play the best teams in the state to see where we line up to see how we can improve,” Spiegel said. “One of our goals is to get to the state finals, but also to improve every single day. If we’re able to improve game to game, that’s great. We just to improve every game.”
With the soccer field still under snow, the Kodiaks are proving they can be successful even while practicing in the gym.
“Last year and this year, we don’t know how long it will be. We try to look at it as a positive. We’re able to get all this footwork in. We’re able to get a whole lot more touches than normal. The only thing is we aren’t able to work on the long balls, formational play and things of that sort,” Spiegel said. “We can sort that out as the season goes on. It’s really important for the kids to get really good touches, first touch, second touch on the ball. That’s what we’ve been working on a lot.”
Cascade began the season last Saturday in Ephrata. The Kodiaks next five games are scheduled at home, which is a head scratcher, because the home field is usually not ready during that time. Even when the snow is gone, it is a while before the field is dry enough to play on.
Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.