Favored Lewis and Clark boys soccer gets early test against Central Valley

All that hard work should pay off soon for the Lewis and Clark boys soccer team.

Perhaps on Wednesday.

That’s when the Tigers open the Greater Spokane League season against perennial power Central Valley. Kickoff is at 4 p.m. at Albi Stadium.

“This is one of our bigger matches because we haven’t been able to beat CV very often,” said senior defender Zak Deutschman, an All-GSL first-team selection last year.

Asked whether it’s too soon for a showdown between the top teams in the preseason poll, Deutschman was pragmatic.

“I think it’s good, because we only lost a few seniors last from last year, and our team is pretty organized to begin with,” he said.

With nine returning starters from a 15-5 team that narrowly missed a trip to state last year, LC is confident of a big year.

Seventh-year head coach Mica Lamb also returns first-team midfielder Jared Mehaffey, defender Bryan Maxwell, midfielder Will Hoefer and forward Brooks Schaaf.

“Our players know each other well and should come together relatively quickly,” Lamb said.

They already have. The Tigers are 4-0-1 in the preseason and have outscored their opponents 19-1. No surprise there.

“We return the majority of a team that was pretty good last year,” said Lamb, who returns an intact back four and a trio of senior goalkeepers in Josh Via, John Zylak and Nick Davis. Up front is a hard-working midfield to feed a front line that Lamb said has a “proven ability to create quality scoring chances against even the toughest of opponents.”

Win or lose on Wednesday, the hard work will go on.

“We come in every day and work hard as a group,” Mehaffey said. “And we’re really close. Every game is a big one for us, but the whole group, we want to get better and better each year.”