Thanks to Bill Tooley of SCSoccer.com Media for providing this preview for Northwestern HS:
Northwestern Ready for the Test at Lake Murray Challenge
Dominic Wren is excited about the test that lies ahead. Although a good chunk of last year's Northwestern boys soccer team has graduated, he’s still in the hunt, but doesn't necessarily feel like the hunted.
Spring Valley is the team that is getting the most attention as the preseason (4A) #1, but coach Wren can't wait to throw his young squad into the midst of the fire. He's very interested in seeing how his boys will react when they kick-off the season this weekend in the highly-competitive Lake Murray Challenge.
"It's a good test early in the season and it will be nice to see how the boys react this early against good competition”, says Wren. "It will give me a good picture of just where we are at".
Senior captain Corey Parks will start at right defender and it will be his job to lead a very young team through a challenging early schedule. Directly in front of him will be two of the most talented sophomores in the state. Alex Martinez will provide the creativity from the center of the midfield while newcomer Javier Bonilla will have Alex's back and provide a physical presence as the holding center midfielder.
Scoring has never been a problem for the Trojans and junior Enzo Martinez, arguably the best player in South Carolina, has 97 tallies to his credit in just two seasons. A couple of youngsters up top, sophomore Jeremy Dobbins and freshman Ricky Garbanzo, should also hit the scoring column quite frequently while running with Enzo.
Sophomore Ryan Foster is being pushed by junior Clayton Gladden for the starting goalkeeping duties.
Wren is in his third year as head coach of one of this decade's most successful high school soccer programs. The Trojans have been to the 4A state championship match four of the past five years and won the title in 2006. Last year the Trojan's were upper state champions and finished the season with a record of 25-4-0.
As for this weekend’s tournament, Northwestern took the crown at the Lake Murray Challenge in 2005 and 2007. "This is a great challenge for our young guys who will gain valuable experience," says Wren. "We have a lot of competition for places, I still don’t know our best line up. Experience will be our biggest obstacle. We need the younger players to step up."
