Fresh off a second straight sectional championship, Crestwood’s boys’ soccer team’s potential is through the roof heading into the 2024 season.
The Red Devils return eight starters and three other players with varsity experience from a squad that finished 11-7 last fall.
“With eight returning starters with all having big varsity experience, I see the potential of this team to go further in the playoffs than soccer at Crestwood has ever gone, and I see potential this year to compete for a (Chagrin Valley Conference) title,” said third-year head coach Eric Sway. “We have a challenging schedule playing three-fourths of games against teams in divisions higher than us including Division I, while we are now Division V. This should help us immensely in the fight to move to the next playoff step and go where we’ve never gone before.”
The Red Devils have a monumental task in replacing graduated goalkeeper Charlie Schweikert, but Sway is confident senior captain Cooper Pausch is up to the task.
“(Pausch) has shown to pick up where Charlie left off,” Sway said. “Cooper has been the starting defensive midfielder for the last two seasons as he was our backup keeper. Cooper has now taken over the crucial keeper role and embraced it with confidence and experience.”
Senior midfielder Elijah Jurisch returns after scoring 34 goals with nine assists on the way to earning second-team All-Ohio honors, and first-team All-CVC, and he was named the Portage County Player of the Year.
“With the added weapons and speed to this year’s lineup, Elijah is going to make many people crazy in several ways,” Sway said.
Junior A.J. Brock also is a returning starter in the midfield.
“A.J. is coming back from only half of a season last year,” Sway said. “A.J. has not stopped training since his season ended last year and has become a captain on the team. A.J.’s physicality and ability to win 50-50 balls in the middle of the field is crucial for the team.”
Junior forward Kyle Shelhamer also is a threat up top as he returns after scoring 11 goals with five assists last fall.
“Kyle is now poised and ready to have a breakthrough season,” Sway said. “After two years of great training, Kyle has developed the skills and confidence to be a game changer opposite other game changers.”
Three starters return on defense including seniors Drew Pfost and Sam Wright, and junior Kade Rotter.
“Drew is going into his third season as a full-time starting left back. Drew has played every minute of the last 38 games other than 55 minutes due to an in-game injury. Drew is an unreplaceable experienced defender that will lock down an experienced veteran defense,” Sway said. “Sam is another experienced defender going into his third year of starting center back playing just about every minute of the last 38 games. Sam is big, physical, and the anchor of an experienced defense. Kade has endured off-season knee surgery to come back and earn himself a captain spot on the team. Kade is another starting defender who has played almost every minute of the last 38 games starting at right back. Kade’s improvement from going to starting right back as a freshman to still starting right back as a junior is quite remarkable. He is the last anchor to this defensive unit.”
Sway has a solid core group of players to complement a deeper roster this season.
He hopes that combination will lead the Red Devils to more success this fall.
“I’ve had 12-player and 14-player rosters the last two seasons and we’ve been successful. With that said, we now have a roster of 20 and we have more athleticism than we’ve had in the years I’ve been at Crestwood,” Sway said. “The reality is for us this year; we have more options than we’ve ever had and that is exciting. Losing our goalkeeper is the biggest void to fill, but I’m confident senior Cooper Pausch will fill it.”
