It’s soccer season yet again and head Varsity Boys’ Coach Mark Cisneros is ready to lead Alisal on another successful year. In his 9th year, Cisneros finds himself with a fairly new team this school year with 18 new Varsity players and 7 returning. After a 9-3-0 league season last year, and a CCS elimination, Cisneros plan for the team to go undefeated again in league and potentially be CCS champs this 2016-2017 year.

As has been his habit, Cisneros has scheduled some of the toughest teams in both the state and nationally. He said, “Our preseason schedule is probably the most demanding preseason schedule we’ve ever had at Alisal. We’re heading down to L.A to take on the #1, #2, and #3 teams in the state of California, the #2, #5 and #7 in the Nation, so these teams are as good as they can get in California.” Cisneros has the boys play against such teams in order to have the team conditioned and ready for league. “We do that purposely so that when we hit league the guys are seasoned and they got their scar tissue, they got their battle wounds, and they’ve already faced some of the toughest competition they’re gonna face and theoretically make league a little easier for us and get us in a good position to get into the playoffs.”

Senior Eduardo Miranda returns for his fourth year on Varsity, assuming the role as team captain. Cisneros said, “Eduardo’s a special player not just because of his talent but he is the first player in my coaching career in Alisal high school to be a 4 year Varsity starter. Because of that and other qualities that he has as a leader, he is our Captain this year.” Miranda said, “These past years have given me a lot of experience, having worked with different type of athletes in different grade levels has prepared me for my final year at Alisal.”

A fairly new team brings along its own challenges for Alisal soccer. “Our biggest problem has been and continues to be finishing and what I mean by that is just basically putting the ball in the back of the net. We’ve had a tremendous amount of shots on goal but nothing’s going in for us too much. We definitely need to change that and for us it’s the biggest challenge we’re going to have. We don’t have a problem generating chances it’s just a matter of getting the ball past the keeper,” said Cisneros. “We need to have better communication, putting the time and effort to our practices and taking everything seriously.”

The team however has shown definite progress so far this preseason. After six games, the team has a 4-2-0 record with victories against Clovis East, Valley Christian, Academia Avance and Bellarmine, and losses against Soledad and Mitty. The team travels to L.A. to face Paramount, Loyola of L.A. and Cathedral from December 17-21, to face the final and toughest three games in their preseason. These three games will give Cisneros insight into just how the boys will be playing during league. “This year’s team actually has the potential to be a really good team perhaps a CCS championship team it’s just a matter of us working hard and staying focused and being mentally disciplined and strong.”