In one of his first meetings with the team, new Helias soccer coach Jay Heibenheimer asked the players about their goals for the season.
To a person, the Crusaders all said, "state."
"I love they thought that," Heibenheimer said. "But there are 50 other goals we need to have, we need to achieve, before we can get that one big one. So we set some individual, specific game, smaller team goals.
"We have them on a chart and when we achieve them, I'll start marking them off."
The first chance to start marking them off comes today when the Crusaders host the Camdenton Lakers to start the season at the 179 Soccer Park.
"The boys are really buying into my system, the energy is high," Heibenheimer said. "I started with a 'new beginnings, new results' idea and I think everybody is happy so far."
Heibenheimer, who has been involved in youth soccer in the area for several years, takes over the program after serving as an assistant coach the past two seasons for the Crusaders.
"It's a clean slate, the past is the past," Heibenheimer said. "We're just looking forward now."
That said, the experience has been helpful.
"Those two years have made this transition simpler," Heibeneimer said. "It really helped me learn what the responsibilities are that come with being a head coach and that has been really important."
The Crusaders return 13 seniors on a roster of 33 players. Heibenheimer plans to employ a rotation of about 16 players on the varsity, which doesn't leave a lot of room for younger players to get experience at that level. Many of the underclassmen will play primarily on the JV team.
"With the big senior class, we need to make sure to nurture the younger guys as well," Heibenheimer said. "There are some younger guys who probably would see varsity time in a year that we didn't have so many older players."
No player was promised a starting spot, even if they had one last season.
"I told the boys with the fresh start, nobody has a position," Heibenheimer said. "Just because they started last year doesn't mean they will start this year.
"There will be some new faces."
The starting 11 for today's game against the Lakers will all have varsity experience.
The biggest question as the preseason came to a close was at starting goalkeeper between seniors Elijah Kornberg and Luke Mercurio.
"Elijah's mindset has been great, Luke's mindset has been great," Heibenheimer said. "I'm torn between those two guys."
Mercurio came to Heibenheimer to ask if he could switch to keeper from the midfield.
"He's been very impressive so sar," Heibenheimer said.
Kaleb Wilson, a sophomore, will start at center back.
"Kaleb is a tremendous attacker, but his soccer IQ is so high that I can put him anywhere and he has embraced that position," Heibenheimer said. "I don't know if he will be there long-term, but he will start back there for now."
Logan Brauner, a senior, will be at right back. Jack Hoey or Jacob Cegelenski, both seniors, are battling for the left back spot.
Elliott Lammers, a junior, and senior Grant Mengwasser will be the holding midfielders. Carson Mudd, a junior, and senior Logan Pfeneger will start on the wings.
Isaac Johnson, a sophomore, will start at attacking midfielder. Arris Pardalos, a senior, and junior Nick Brandt will start up front.
"They are working hard to impress me and that's good to see because they need to impress me," Heibenheimer said,
Helias has added games against Borgia, Glendale and Vianney to improve the quality of the schedule.
"We need the mindset that we can play with anybody," Heibenheimer said. "We need to know that we are a quality soccer team as well. In order to get to our ultimate goal, which is a state championship, we're going to need to beat some teams that people may not think we're going to beat."
Heibenheimer believes the Crusaders are on the road toward a state title.
"With what we have with facilities and our goals, I believe we will be competing for a state championship in the near future each and every year," he said. "I've been working my whole life for this opportunity and now that it's here, I want to make sure myself and this program work hard to be the best we can be."
Today's JV game will start at 5 p.m., followed by the varsity contest around 6:45 p.m. Due to continuing construction, Helias will not play games at the Crusader Athletic Complex until early September.