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ALTON – A new era is about to begin for Alton High School's girls soccer team.
Jeff Hayes is taking over the coaching position, though he's not a stranger to the area's coaching ranks; he's coached the Granite City boys team and coached the Collinsville freshman boys last fall. The former Granite City standout is taking over from Laura Ridolfi, who took a position with the Scott Galagher Soccer Club in St. Louis; Hayes served as an assistant coach with the Redbirds last season.
“We're excited to get the season finally going,” Hayes said. “We're almost through our preseason and the games begin next week; that's when the fun begins.”
And those games will begin with the Metro Girls Cup tournament, where the Redbirds will play in the Nike bracket of the tournament; they'll take on Freeburg at 5:30 p.m. Monday in Edwardsville in an opening-round match. Other teams in the Redbirds' bracket include Columbia, Highland, Waterloo Gibault, Waterloo, Belleville Althoff and Breese Mater Dei.
“We're going to be busy with four games in five or six days (including a non-conference, non-tournament match during the week). It's definitely going to test our depth right away; we're going to have to go into our bench from the very beginning,” Hayes said. “It's going to be a good indicator of what we're going to have for the rest of the season.”
Hayes has been pleased with the intensity and work rate of the Redbirds during preseason training. “I'm really pleased with the intensity,” Hayes said. “I can tell they're just as eager as I am to get the games going.”
While Hayes is stepping into a new role as the head coach, though it's not a new situation for him. “I've been in this position before,” Hayes said. “I really like being an assistant because you can sit back and observe and see things a little different; your relationship with the players is a little bit different with instruction.
“This is fun when you can coach a varsity team with some talent; you can dictate how things are going to go from your end and just do your best.”
While the Redbirds finished at the bottom of the Southwestern Conference in 2015, with four wins overall, that doesn't mean that Alton isn't lacking, however. “We do have some returners that have a lot of varsity experience,” Hayes said. “We are going to be young and we don't have many seniors on the roster, but I don't think that's an excuse for us.
“We have some expectations to win some games (in the SWC) and upset a few teams.”
“I think we're going to do pretty well this year,” said junior Annie Evans. “We have all the skill there; it's just a matter of playing together. We only have three other girls that are returning that have been playing together, so it's kind of difficult to put all the girls together and play well; I think we're doing good so far.”
“We're skilled in all positions this year,” Hayes said, “even our role players can get up in the attack. We've got to figure out a way to equal the playing field as far as size and speed goes, where we lose some in age, but I think if we do that and come together as a team, you never know what's going to happen.”
While the Redbirds' 2015 mark wasn't the best, Evans believes they could pull some surprises this season. “I think we'll surprise some people,” Evans said. “I feel like a lot of schools underestimate us a little bit, then we get out there and play and we surprise them. Hopefully we'll do that this year.”
The Redbirds will be playing on an on-campus facility for the first time this season; home games are moving from Gordon Moore Park to the on-campus Piasa Motor Fuels Field, which opened late last boys season.
“I'm really excited for all the athletes up here that get to take advantage of this area, with the baseball field and the track (as well as Piasa Field),” Hayes said. “For us to have our own soccer field, this is something the girls are really excited about. We need to take pride in that and use to to our advantage from the very beginning.”
Hayes, who played at Granite City during the Gene Baker era, remembers well the Warriors' home pitch of that era, which became known as The Gauntlet – a place visiting teams rarely emerged victorious from. Hayes would be proud if Piasa Field became a home facility much like The Gauntlet was.
“Wouldn't that be something if it (became a new version of The Gauntlet),” Hayes said. “It's a nice field; it's nice and big.”
The Redbirds' home opener comes at 12:30 p.m. March 26 when Springfield's Senators come calling. The home schedule also includes matches against Belleville Althoff, O'Fallon, Belleville East, Collinsville and Edwardsville; the Redbirds will come calling to Gene Baker Field in Granite City May 5.
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