Injuries hampered Coast Union girls on the field this season

Jack Mettier’s first season as head coach of the Coast Union girls soccer program was “hampered by many injuries,” two of them season-ending, which is among the reasons he says the Lady Broncos ended with a 6-10 record.

An important aspect of the soccer program that needs attention, Mettier explains, is “getting the girls more physically fit to (hopefully) avoid injury.” He also hopes to have more girls “buy into” his coaching style through a change in “pre-existing attitudes.

“Some habits are harder to break than others, and I believe that we made a lot of progress in many of them,” albeit there remains “a lot of work to be done,” the coach added.

He said he hopes the players who wish to improve will become active in offseason soccer programs to further “develop their skills.”

Mettier’s players were not very effective away from Coast Union; in fact, they only won a single soccer match on the road.

“By my calculations, we traveled (round trip) almost 2,000 miles this season,” he explained. “Hopefully, we can work on getting more home games and less travel next year.”

Without mentioning any specific impediments involving the playing fields, Mettier suggested that the school needs to be “more proactive in making sure that our practice and match fields are clear of dangerous obstacles.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 10:12 AM with the headline "Injuries hampered Coast Union girls on the field this season."