ERMA — Caper Tiger boys soccer coach Cristian Valencia has a very young lineup this season, but the team was sporting a solid 3-3 record over its first six games.
Valencia, a former Lower Cape May Regional High School soccer play who graduated in 2011, said most of his team is comprised of freshmen and sophomores with a few juniors and seniors sprinkled in the mix.
The team didn’t lose a lot of players to graduation, only three or four seniors, but has required building in numbers because it wasn’t attracting a lot of players to the program, Valencia said.
“I don’t know what’s happening, but the program’s getting better now. And you know, we have a lot of freshmen with a lot of potential,” Valencia said after the Sept. 17 game against Camden Tech.
They lost that one 5-1 against a program the coach conceded was a level above his team. Tech (5-1) dominated play throughout the game, but the Caper Tigers were able to force a pair of Tech goalies to make 10 saves. Chris Duley scored the lone goal for LCMR.
It has been a back-and-forth season so far. The Caper Tigers beat Cape May Tech 2-0 to open the season, fell 5-0 to Atlantic City, beat Holy Spirit 3-0, lost to Oakcrest 2-0 and beat Buena 1-0 before falling to Camden Tech.
In the opener, LCMR’s Duley scored both goals with assists by Stephen Lutjen and Keaton Black. Versus Atlantic City, it was John Sharp, Yahred Catana and Lutjen picking up the goals. Assists were courtesy of Lutjen, Duley and Cooper Turner. Duley scored the lone goal against Buena.
“It’s going to be good in the next upcoming years,” Valencia said.
“We have Chris (Duley). He’s a junior, so we’re thankful he’s not a senior yet. He’s going to be great this year. He’s been great this year. Then we have Cooper, a freshman. He’s a phenomenal player. He’s usually a center back and he’s not even playing his position. He’s been playing center mid.”
The Caper Tigers also have a few seniors, Logan Perkins and Johnny Montgomery, but injuries have left only one on the field.
“Unfortunately, this team (Camden Tech), they’re a little higher level, but I don’t think we did too bad,” Valencia said.
The coach is looking to the future, expecting as his team gets more experience, in the next few years they’ll be able to compete well with teams like Camden Tech.
“I think that’s the goal, to be able to compete against Glassboro, against the Deptfords — at least that’s my goal as a coach for this program,” Valencia said.
He really is looking to the future because he has been going to the recreation center for the young players to help develop them.
“I have kids that just entered seventh grade, that entered fifth and sixth grades,” Valencia said. When the older ones get to be freshmen and his current players are seniors, “this team will be really, really, really good.”
Valencia isn’t a teacher. A financial planner, he took over coaching the team from the previous coach after being a volunteer.
He played for the Caper Tigers in high school and for Stockton University when he was in college.
“I actually got to play on the reserve squad for the (Philadelphia) Union,” he noted.
“I was already doing my development stuff with the younger ages and I was like, ‘Let’s do it.’ Let’s go all the way from the little kids to the high school because that’s how you build the program.”
By DAVID NAHAN/Cape May Star and Wave
