Defensive adjustments have paid off for Eldorado boys
Eagles have shut down district foes
Buses and beehives. Want to understand the current season of the Eldorado High School boys soccer team? Those two words are apt, and Eagles coach Tom Hirschman will be able to explain why momentarily.
For now, his Eagles continue to show the way in District 2-5A. Their 5-0 win over visiting Farmington on Tuesday afternoon not only put Eldorado (9-6-1) at 6-0 in the league standings, but it was the Eagles’ sixth straight district shutout.
They hold a 1½-game lead over second-place La Cueva (9-5-1, 4-1) with just a week and a half remaining in the regular season.
“We’re definitely someone you need to watch out for,” senior midfielder Gavin Smith said.
The Eagles will face the Bears on Saturday afternoon at the APS Complex. The first meeting was a 1-0 win for Eldorado, part of an ongoing trend in 2-5A for Eldorado in which the Eagles’ defense has put up a clean sheet.
The goalkeeping from junior Mason Blatner for sure has been integral. But the origin of this defensive-minded surge came from someplace else.
“We were scoring goals (early in the season),” said Hirschman, “but we weren’t able to stop anyone, so we had to figure out a way to stay in games by not letting people score. We had no choice.”
The change could be considered somewhat unusual, but it has been an undeniable strategic success.
Eldorado continues to operate with a rather standard four-player back line, but Hirschman took two of his midfielders and gave them, in essence, a defender’s role.
“It’s more of a solid six,” he said of the defense. “We had to talk about parking the bus in front of our goal and we started playing in slow motion. So we’ve changed it to a beehive in front of our goal and now we’re fitting that mold a little bit better. … We changed to a system of play that I’m not very good at teaching, quite honest.”
Hirschman said he was “guilty” of taking them down the wrong road early in the season. But recent results suggest his alterations are working brilliantly.
“I think we were struggling a little bit at first (with the change), but it’s gotten the job done,” said senior defender Harrison Schmidt.
“It takes a lot of discipline,” added senior center back Zane Grillo. “But we trust each other, so we know each other will do our jobs.”
Only one team in the last month has scored on Eldorado: Cleveland, in a 3-2 overtime victory last week.
“Once things started to click … what we worked on in practice unfolded in games exactly how we drew it up, and that built trust in each other and trust in the coaching staff,” Hirschman said. “That doesn’t always happen.”
Eldorado, as yet, hasn’t gotten much recognition for its work. The Eagles are unranked in the latest coaches’ poll, and are well down the list in the MaxPreps. com rankings.
But if they can beat La Cueva again on Saturday, they will officially put an end to La Cueva’s five-year run of being district champs, no matter what happens next week.
“We may not have the best players in the state, but we have the (best) work ethic, and we want it the most,” Smith said.
Said Hirschman: “We don’t have one kid leading any area in stats; that’s not to say we don’t have a couple of players who won’t be special in their time.”
The regular season ends Oct. 26, with the playoff brackets to be released the next day.
Eldorado believes it will be a tough out in the postseason regardless of what the matchup may be in November.
“We knew we wouldn’t destroy anyone,” Hirschman said as he reflected on his offseason thoughts about his side, a team he believed would be competitive. “So we’ve decided we would settle in and make in insanely hard to beat us. And no matter what, we know we’ll have chances to win.”