It’s rare for a team to go undefeated and even rarer still with a first-year coach.
However, the St. Francis boys soccer team is just two results away from an unbeaten regular season following a 2-0 home win against Serra Wednesday night.
New Lancers head coach Rusty Millard said the initial goal was not to go unbeaten in the regular season when he met the team at tryouts, especially after coming over from coaching the Palo Alto boys soccer team and facing the tough West Catholic Athletic League, one of the strongest leagues in Northern California. However, St. Francis (16-0-2) has taken on the opportunity and challenge presented, especially with only two games left and Archbishop Mitty only three points behind them at 9-1-2 in WCAL play.
“The credit all goes to the guys,” Millard said. “They’ve been on it every game, every training, and now, at this point, we want to finish it off knowing Mitty is still on our heels.”
Just a few weeks after Serra came back from two goals down to get a 2-2 away tie, the Lancers overcame a slow first half against the Padres and got goals from co-captain Andrew Huber with 22 minutes left in the second half and senior striker Reece Wyatt with under two minutes left to seal the game. Huber, a junior midfielder who plays in the No. 6 position, aggressively intercepted a pass from the Serra center-back looking to play forward to the midfield. About 20 yards from goal on the left-hand side, Huber decided to have a go and unleashed a right-footed curler into the bottom corner, with the goalie frozen as it ripped into the net.
“I think I’ve had a few fair goals like that,” Huber said. “I’m used to my outside-the-box bottom corner type shots. I scored against Serra the last time like that.”
Huber noted Millard always tells the players to take the shooting chance when presented, and the midfielder now has four goals on the season.
“He’s done that multiple times this year for us,” Millard said. “I thought it was a fantastic finish. [It] caught the keeper off guard a little bit, but it was a huge moment, a turning moment in the game for us.”
While the team philosophy is to keep the ball and win it high up the field, the Lancers have been flexible with formations this year based on the opponent, with St. Francis going with three in the back to combat a 4-1-4-1 formation Serra showed in the previous game, with only three defenders needed in the back line against one striker up top. While Lancers forward David Escobar leads the team with 19 goals, Millard noted everyone has contributed to the team’s success this season. St. Francis has a trio of sophomores who have helped propel the team forward, with defender Callum Todd and midfielders Jaden Peercy and Lukas Ramans all starters.
Millard has coached for 22 years and took over the St. Francis job in the fall after three years as the boys coach at Palo Alto, in addition to teaching at St. Christopher School in San Jose. After playing high school soccer at Los Gatos and later in college, he returned to his alma mater as head coach for over a decade. After a time coaching girls soccer at Valley Christian before going to Palo Alto, he comes to St. Francis looking to build a team based on work ethic and selfless play where people can move the ball and play in all positions. Millard believes the team is at the top of its game and hopes to see the Lancers go far in the playoffs.
“I think being around the game, always loving the game, having so much passion for nights like this, loving the student-athlete experience is what keeps driving me each day,” Millard said.
The players have bought into his style, with an emphasis on dynamic, intense but fun training sessions. Huber said Millard has modeled 100% effort in training and games to get the boys playing at their best.
“We were family last year, but there is really a sense of unison and just battling for each other and battling for our coach,” Huber said. “He always wants to put in the work.”
