Kings Men's Soccer

Friday, August 5, 2011—The Kings’ mens’ soccer team will finish their week of training at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex in Xenia, OH with activities scheduled for Friday and Saturday.

Team building and relationships are the goals for the coaching staff as pre-season scrimmages begin later next week (Thursday, August 11 at Ross).

The AIA facility features turf fields, overnight dormatory accommodations and full dining capacity.  During the time the Knights will be training at AIA, the Sports Complex will also be hosting the Lebanon women’s soccer team, University of Dayton women’s soccer team and the men’s soccer team from Solon high school.

Coach Erik Poggi has issued the following itinerary for the team:

Friday, August 5th:

11:00 – Report to KHS

11:15 – Depart KHS for AIA Complex in Xenia, Oh

12:00 – Arrive at complex/lunch will be provided (Subway)

12:30 – Low ropes course (team building with entire program)

5:00 – Ending team building activities; checking into rooms.

6:00 – Dinner is served.

7:30 – 8:30 – Light practice on turf fields

8:30 – 10:00 – Team meeting / Activities in rec. room

Saturday, August 6th:

7:30 – Breakfast is served

9:00 – 11:30 – Practice on turf fields

11:45 – Depart AIA complex for KHS

12:30 – Arrive at KHS

Go Knights!

July 9, 2011-The Mason Pre-Season Classic games, scheduled for July 15-17, are set for the Kings Knights.  Here are the times and opponents for the Knights:

Friday, July 15 at 5:00 pm verses Loveland

Saturday, July 16 at 9:20 am verses McNicholas

Saturday, July 16 at 1:50 pm verses Dayton Carroll

Sunday, July 17 at 8:00 am verses Colerain

Sunday, July 17 at 1:50 pm verses Dayton Wayne

These will all be competitive matches and will help the Knights early in their training and preparation for the upcoming 2011 season.  The tournament website can be found at http://masonpreseasonclassic.com/cgi-bin/teams.cgi

Kings won this same tournament in 2009.

Soccer training will be held July 11-14 (Monday through Thursday) from 9 am – 12 noon.  Good luck Knights!

June 12, 2011-The email below from Birgitt Hacker says it all.  Thanks Birgitt for your hard work and coordinating such a successful outcome!  It was great to see so many of the players helping out.

Hello Soccer Fans!!

Thank you to all the boys and parents that worked the garage sale, especially  to Marianne Householder who sorted, priced and sat with me at the sale for three days straight.

Thank you to all the families that brought over donations.  Your participation in the sale is much appreciated.

The sale raised $598.50.  So, anyone who wants to donate that last $1.50 gets bragging right to saying it was $600!

Thanks again,

Birgitt Hacker

June 4, 2011-Coach Erik Poggi has posted the 2011 Men’s Soccer training and match schedule. The complete schedule is posted under the links section.

The training schedule begins on Tuesday, June 7 with a weight lifting session.  Lifting and pickup games will normally be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the summer months.  Players and soccer alumnus are encouraged to attend.

The 2011 match schedule has been released.  Kings opens the season with a home contest against the LaSalle Lancers on Tuesday, August 23.  The season features nine home matches for the Knights, including FAVC league battles against Loveland, Wilmington, Turpin and Anderson.

With nine starters returning from the 2010 season, Kings hopes to improve on their 5-7-5 record.

Hello Men’s Soccer Parents,

Time for Spring Cleaning!!  Wouldn’t it be great if all that extra stuff in your basement and garage could help buy new uniforms for the team?  At our Men’s Soccer meeting, we talked about ideas for fundraisers to pay for things like meals for away games, coach salaries, the Mason Pre-Season Tournament, and hopefully new uniforms and bags (which are badly needed).  Let’s get a jump on our fall season and raise some of those funds at our first MEN’S SOCCER TEAM GARAGE SALE!

All the proceeds of this garage sale will benefit the Kings Men’s Soccer Team. 

Date:  Friday, June 10 from 9:00am to 2:00pm and Saturday, June 11 from 8:00am to 11:00am

Place: The Hacker Family garage – 9672 Tulip Tree Court, Loveland, Ohio

Donation Drop Off: Thursday, June 9 beginning at 4:00pm until 8:00pm (if you need to make other arrangements, call Birgitt Hacker 774-8081)

How you can help (and we do need your help):

• Donate items to sell!  Be on the lookout for all those items that are taking up space but are no longer are useful to you … Someone wants to buy these things!
• If you have an EZ Up shade tent and we can borrow it, we would love some protection from the weather.
• Players and parents to help set up on Thursday, June 9 from 4:00pm – 9:00pm and work at the sale on Friday, June 10 from 8:00am to 3:00pm and Saturday, June 11 from 7:30am to 11:30am (Community service hours!!!!!)
• If you have any old levy signs or other old signs we can use to make garage sale signs, let us know.
• Publicity – make signs and put them up and run an advertisement in local paper and on www.garagesalecow.com

Let us know how you would like to help!

Remember, every item sold represents one less Buddy Card or candy bar to sell!

Marianne Householder, Betty Kratz and Birgitt Hacker

(See flier under links)

May 15, 2011–Coach Erik Poggi hosted a 2011 men’s soccer organizational meeting at Kings High School. About 65 players and parents attended, hearing inportant information on the upcoming season.

Coach Poggi announced that last year’s coaching staff of Erik Mount and Brett DiMarcello will both be back for the coming season.

Coach Poggi stressed the following points in his comments:
1. The importance of finishing the current academic quarter well to qualify for the fall season
2. Summer lifting and pick-up games will begin on Tuesday, June 7
3. The Mason Classic will held at Heritage Park, July 15-17. Kings hopes to field both a varsity and junior varsity squad in the Classic
4. Tryouts will be the week of August 1
5. An overnight will be hosted at the Athletes in Action Sports Complex in Xenia, Ohio August 5-6. Team building, setting the direction for the season and training will be the focus. A nominal fee will be asked for this event.
6. This will be the last year for the Fort Ancient Valley Conference. In 2012, the new Eastern Cincinnati Conference will be formed and include Kings, Glen Este, Anderson, Loveland, Milford, Walnut Hills and Turpin. An eight team is likely to be added.

Good luck to all the Knights as they finish up their club soccer seasons!

Brandon Coughlin's "Hair" Ball

The Goal Club site now includes action photos from the 2010 season!  A special thanks to Jim Uetrecht and his outstanding ability to capture the action in digital format and Jim Stockwell and his continued volunteer service as our webmaster.

Both of these men continue to serve the Kings’ men’s soccer program, even though Brendan and Matt and Sam are well into their college careers.  Thanks guys!

Check out great action shots, like the one posted of sophomore defender Brandon Coughlin.  Head ball?  Brandon does the hair ball!

Held under perfect weather conditions, the annual Kings’ men’s alumni soccer game was played on Saturday, August 7, 2010 at Kings’ stadium. Nearly 40 former Kings’ players came back for the match which was played in two regulation, 40 minute halves. “Tonight’s game turned out to be better than I would’ve ever expected. To see so many graduates come back and relive the “glory days” makes you realize how important Kings Soccer was to them. It’s even more special for me now as I get to once again play with guys I grew up with as well as those young gentlemen whom I’ve had the pleasure of coaching,” said Kings’ head soccer coach Erik Poggi.

In the end, the white team, composed mostly of players graduating in the last few years, held off a late challenge by the red team, a team of older graduates, by the score of 3-2.

The red team, coached by Kings’ athletic Hall of Famer and former men’s head coach Scott Downer, said, “The alumni game is the annual renewal of all the tradition and fellowship that our former players have put into the program. I look forward to it to renewing past friendships and catching up with people that will forever have touched my life. It’s a wonderful event and one I look forward to each year. Go Knights in 2010!”

Match goals were scored by Mitchell Vernon, Drew Dreikosen(2) for the white team and Sam Stockwell and Randy Wolf for the read team.

Kings Goal Club invites you to their annual “Meet The Team” event – Saturday, August 21st

“Meet The Team” is a fun way for players and their families to get together before the season starts to build team spirit and unity. As in years past, there will be food and drinks served. Please note, this event is MANDATORY for players AND one parent. Just as last year, the Junior High program will be included!

The schedule for the morning is still being finalized. Plans are to go from 9:00 to 1:00 at the High School Stadium.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE IS AS FOLLOWS:

9:00 – 9:30 Jr High Girls vs. Jr High Boys Scrimmage

9:30 – 10:15 JV Girls vs. JV Boys Scrimmage

10:15 – 11:00 Varsity Girls vs. Varsity Boys Scrimmage

11:15 – 11:45 Guest Speakers – INCLUDING A MANDATORY PARENT & PLAYER PRESENTATION BY DOUG MADER (Kings HS Principal) and MATT KOENIG (Kings HS Athletic Director)

12:00 Lunch will be served

You can show your support for both the women’s and men’s soccer programs by joining the Goal Club. Membership includes t-shirts, socials events, a kick-off event and new this year, an evening called “chalk talk” with coaches to hear their perspective and comments about the season. The Goal Club exists to support the Kings’ soccer programs. Additional details can be found through the link at the left hand side of this page.

Kings Players Running the Quarter Mile

Since the summer training and condition season began on June 8, the Kings’ men’s soccer team has logged 28 training sessions and six scrimmages. The Knights continue to prepare for their season opener against the LaSalle Lancers on Tuesday, August 24. The preparation for the season kicks into high gear on Monday, August 9 as Coach Erik Poggi’s team heads into a week of intensified training. Varsity and junior varsity roster spots will be determined next week and the team will have the advantage of honing their skills in another pre-season scrimmage match against Princeton High School on Thursday.

Former Kings goal keeper and standout Brendan Uetrecht will continue his playing career at Wittenberg University this fall. Brendan recently signed to play for the Tigers and will try to help them bounce back from a disappointing 3-13-2 season in 2009. Wittenberg, an NCAA Division III school, plays in the North Coast Athletic Conference along with Denison, Oberlin, College of Wooster and Wabash College among others.

Brendan capped an outstanding senior year in 2009 for Kings as he led a Knights’ defensive unit that registered 6 shoutouts. Uetrecht, known for his cat-like reflexes and dedicated work ethic, was one of the Knights named to the first team all-FAVC Cardinal Division team after last season’s effort. He was also named to the All-City team as well as garnering All-Southwest District honors for the state of Ohio.

You can follow Brendan and the Tigers on the Wittenberg Men’s Soccer website found at http://www4.wittenberg.edu/news/athletics/msoccer/schedule10.html. A game of local interest will be held on Wednesday, September 1, at 7:30 PM when Wilmington College hosts Wittenberg.

Go Brendan and best wishes from the Kings’ soccer family!

Scott Downer, Men’s Soccer coach at Kings High School from 1987-2000, was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame on October 8th. Coach Downer recorded a career record of 173-53-8 during his 14 years as a coach. During his tenure, his teams captured 6 FAVC Championships, 3 District Championships and 1 Regional Championship.

Congratulations to Coach Downer and his family on this great honor!!

Up against the #1 ranked squad in the area, Kings held a relentless attack to one penalty kick goal and then got just enough chances themselves to get a goal during the run of play for a 1-1 tie.

Mason had numerous chances in the first half, but Brendan Uetrecht had 7 saves. Kings had several good attacks but all came up empty and the half ended in a scoreless tie.

Kings had better pressure in the second half and held the Comets to half their their first period shot total. But the Knights drew a penalty in the box off a free kick with 17 minutes to go and Mason converted the PK for a 1-0 lead. With 3:25 left in the game, Sebo Wedig drove a beautiful free kick from far out on the right that hooked down at about the six. Matt Stockwell beat the keeper to it high in the air and headed it in for the equalizer.

We saw several families from the womens’ squad at Toots last week. Here’s our chance to return the favor – Oct 8 at Eli’s – 10% goes to the Kings Womens’ program.