Many prospects are waiting to step up this year for City High Soccer. Two of these players are Rui Torres y Torres ‘26, the sophomore who plays center midfielder, and James Caster ‘26, the sophomore who plays attacking midfielder and winger.
When asked about their goals for the season, Torres y Torres stated that his goal was to make the State Tournament.
“It’s been four years since we made State, and the people who graduated last year never made State,” Torres y Torres said.
Torres y Torres ‘26 feels confident about this year’s team.
“We lost a lot of guys who graduated, but I still think we have a lot of good players. Jack Dancer and Jackson Lindsay are in the back, and Josh BG and Jonah both play midfield. I think they will all have a great season. Hopefully, I can make a difference as well,” Torres y Torres said.
Caster added to this by saying that there is a big player pool with new faces that the team can depend on. With the amount of seniors that graduated last year that were on varsity, a lot of juniors and sophomores, and possibly freshmen will have to step up to fill those spots.
Currently, indoor soccer season is happening, and most kids playing on the soccer team are participating, not only at the club soccer level, with ISC but also through the City High open gyms. These open gyms are a way for players to show their skills to the coaches and have the coaches evaluate the skills of players just before the tryouts start a month from now.
“I’d like to play with people that I’m going to be [on a team with] in high school season, because a lot of them don’t play ISC,” said Torres y Torres, “And I feel like it’s a lot more intense, because [high school season is] just a lot more physical, and you don’t get that intensity when you are indoors.”
Caster thinks indoor playing is good practice for the high school season, as playing in tight spaces makes you better at controlling the ball in small areas and one-on-one situations. When asked about the best ways to improve as a player, Torres y Torres said he picks a single skill and practices it every day.
“Just go for an hour or two, practice all the components in game-like situations, just keep practicing until you get better,” Torres y Torres ‘26 said.
The team this season will be young and inexperienced, with a large amount of last year’s seniors playing on varsity. There is a question of if the young players will step up, and if the age of the team could be a good thing.
“I mean it’s a great thing that the team is young, there’s a lot of people who haven’t had a lot of really significant playing time on varsity, and I’d like to see how they are going to adapt to that,” Torres y Torres said, “It’s exciting.”
Caster agrees with Torres y Torres’ feelings on this year’s team’s youth.
“It’s a good thing because we will see new players becoming stars, and there are many new prospects we can look for in the future,” Caster ‘26 said.
