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Not soaring yet
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CARDINALS AIM FOR TOURNAMENT SUCCESS: Canfield's Dominic Mirto (18) outjumps a West Branch defender for the ball during a game last week. The Cardinals made it to the district tournament last year and have their sights eset on another district championship.
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Phil Simone
By Jon Moffett
Canfield’s soccer team looks for kick start
The Cardinals lost a dozen seniors from the 2007 squad to graduation.
CANFIELD — The 2007 Canfield High boys soccer team had a decent run in the regular season.
The Cardinals finished with a 7-7-4 record before being eliminated in the district tournament by Kent Roosevelt.
This year’s team is looking to build on that success and go even further.
Things began perfectly for Canfield as the Cardinals were victorious in their first game of the new campaign.
The Cardinals defeated Lakeview 1-0 to open up the season. Then things began to slip as they have gone winless in their past three games.
But a tie with Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy, the defending PAC-7 conference champions, a loss to West Branch and a tie with Austintown Fitch has the Cardinals sitting at 1-1-2.
Coach Phil Simone says it’s too early to worry.
“It’s early, we’re still not clicking together and we’re feeling things out still,” Simone said. “I think as the season goes on we’ll be pretty solid. It’s just we’ve got to take it one game at a time, learn from our mistakes and get better.”
Part of the reason the team hasn’t been able to gel is due to the loss of senior leadership, Simone said.
The team graduated 12 players from last year.
Junior forward Jordan Ricks has taken it on himself to be a leader for the team.
During games, he’ll encourage teammates to win balls in the air, as well as reassuring them they have “plenty of time” left to play.
“I’ve always been a vocal person,” Ricks said. “Hopefully if [my teammates] hear something, they hear me saying something positive or hopefully something constructive.”
Ricks is one of a few people to look at on the Canfield roster.
Although Simone said that as a whole the team was “a pretty solid group,” he mentioned a couple of players to keep an eye on. Senior defender Chris Sekman and freshman goalkeeper Mike Thomas were both mentioned as players to watch.
Despite the change in players, Simone remains a constant force at Canfield. He has patrolled the sidelines for the past 15 years with the Cardinals, the first seven as an assistant and the past eight as head coach.
Simone says he was brought up to love the game.
“I’ve grown up with my parents — my dad and mom are from Italy — playing,” Simone said. “My dad played growing up all his life. I’ve just been around it and have learned to love it growing up.”
Simone also began his first year as head coach for the girls team this season. When asked if he preferred coaching the boys or the girls, Simone had no comment.
“You’re going to get me into hot water with that,” Simone said jokingly.
jmoffett@vindy.com