Highland boys soccer goes through changes, growing pains in Robertson’s 1st season

The 2019 soccer season for the Highland Bulldogs and new coach Jay Robertson was a definite combination of learning on the fly and baptism by fire.

Robertson, hired as head coach just four days before the start of fall tryouts, had a lot of work to do in a short time coming in at the end of the summer.

The sophomore and junior laden Bulldogs competed hard game in and out but, with little timely scoring, struggled to win. As a result, the team finished with a 3-17-1 record this fall.

“It’s kind of a different situation coming in meeting players almost a couple of days before tryouts and then going into it (the season) just completely new to the situation and having to go through that learning process with each other,” Robertson said.

Things started off well enough for the Bulldogs as they defeated Freeburg (2-1) and Roxana (2-1) in the Freeburg Tournament in late August.

After that, the Bulldogs fell into an eight-game tailspin that effectively derailed their season. The main culprit was lack of timely goal scoring.

Highland beat Marion 2-0 on Oct. 3 but dropped its final six games to end the season. Robertson, however, said he felt the team was moving in the right direction those final six games.

“I think the first half of the year we just had that learning curve of getting to know the kids and where they fit in with different situations,” Robertson said. “As far as a team we would struggle a bit to score at times but near the end of the season we created some more opportunities and I’m excited about that going forward.”

One bright spot this fall was the play of sophomore goalies Luke Stied and Matt Miscik, as that tandem helped keep the Bulldogs in virtually every game this season.

“Luke made some fantastic saves for us and I was extremely happy with how he played in goal this year,” Robertson said. “To be honest our goalie situation is pretty good.”

Sophomore midfielders Cameron Mortland and Tyler Herman led the Bulldogs in scoring with four goals each and Robertson is expecting even better numbers from them next season.

“I think they both have the ability to be double-digit scorers and I would expect them to grow into those roles,” Robertson said.

The players have a few more weeks off before Robertson institutes an off-season lifting and conditioning program to help them prepare better for next season.

“We’re taking a few weeks off now and some kids will play other sports, but as we get into the new year, it will be getting back into the weight room, and working individually on touches on the ball and working on getting bigger, faster, and stronger,” Robertson said.

This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 10:45 AM.