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5.0 years ago by Jeff Alderman

Soccer Redbirds start practice with eyes on opener - The Telegraph - 8/14/2018

BOYS PREP SOCCER: Redbirds start practice with eyes on opener

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

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GODFREY —The way Alton High School boys soccer coach Nick Funk sees it, his team was already ahead of the pack when preseason practice began. And he plans to keep it that way.

Alton began preseason practice workouts Monday, some five days after the first day of practice as set by the Illinois High School Association. But a successful set of summer workouts, along with a week of two-a-days the began at 6 a.m. Monday mean the Redbirds will be good to go once the regular season gets under way, Funk said.

“We got a lot accomplished this summer,” Funk said. “With everything we did in July, they got an extra couple-day break.

“And we’ve got two-a-days for a week before school starts.”

The Redbirds had 53 players at Monday’s early morning conditioning session at Rock Springs Park and the afternoon practice at North Elementary School.

“We’ll run every morning at Rock Springs from 6 to 7,” Funk said. “And in the afternoons, we’ll practice pretty hard and run a little more.”

The Redbirds will open their season Aug. 24 against Gateway Christian Academy in the first round of their own Alton Invitational Tournament.

The early morning running session is a return to yesteryear for Funk, who went through similar workouts session as part of preseason when he was a player at AHS.

“It’s a good way to work on conditioning,” he said. “Most of our kids are pretty fit. They’ve worked all summer and we’ve made good use of the available time.”

Monday afternoon was spent working on passing, ball touch and scrimmaging, along with separate drills for the goalies.

Funk said that all told, there will be about 65 players once all are accounted for.

“We’ve got some on vacation,” he said. “Once they get back, we’ll have higher numbers.”

He addded that an unusually small junior class (six players) accounts for a lower roster number heading into this seson compared to 2017.

The Redbirds went 10-9-2 last season. They jumped out to a 4-1 record and were 9-4 two-thirds of the way through the season. They notched victories over the likes of Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, Granite City, Belleville Althoff and Triad along the way, before closing 0ut the season.

Senior Joey Morrissey, who led the Redbirds in scoring last season with seven goals and two assists, returns. But the loss of 11 seniors from a season ago means competition is keen for some spots.

That includes in goal, where Hunter Dill was among the graduation losses. He’s now at Lewis and Clark Community College. Dill logged 385 minutes in goal last season and had three shutouts.

“We’ve got a good group,” Funk said. “They’ve put in a lot of work already and are working hard. Two-a-days will allow us to work on both conditioning and seeing who fits where.”

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