By TIM TAYLORTioga County Sports Report
CANDOR/SPENCER — The Spencer-Van Etten/Candor girls soccer team is trying to establish itself amid a series of head coaching changes. The Eagles haven’t had the same head coach on the sideline for consecutive seasons since the 2018 and 2019 campaigns.
Michael Leljedal moved up from the girls modified ranks to fill in this season for Megan Friscia, who has stepped aside for the 2023 season to have a baby.
SVEC’s revolving door of coaches has made playing in the IAC’s most competitive division (South Large School) a real challenge. Leljedal hopes he can join forces with Friscia to change that situation.
“I think coach Friscia and I can be a good foundation for that,” he said. “We're both motivated. We both love the sport. I have no plans of going anywhere. It gives the girls a consistent voice, a consistent plan as opposed to going from one way of playing to another every other year.
Candor and S-VE merged in 2016, won back-to-back IAC South Small School championships, then moved to the South Large School division in 2018. That division was home to Elmira Notre Dame and Waverly, two squads which frequented the state rankings, until Waverly joined the STAC last year.
Following the 2019 season, the SVEC program was unable to field a varsity team in 2020 due to low numbers. It revamped in 2021, then played only as Candor in 2022 when S-VE had no players signed up.
The Eagles returned in 2023 and despite a 4-11 season, the youthful SVEC squad showed some promise. Five players earned IAC South Large School all-star nods, all of whom are still in school, although three other players graduated.
Enter Leljedal, who brings a deep background to the pitch despite the fact he didn’t play in your typical high school league or collegiately at Keuka College.
“I went to Horseheads up until eighth grade and then for high school, I was homeschooled,” he said. “There was actually a homeschool organization that had teams, and then you would play local homeschool teams out in Rochester and Syracuse and stuff.
“I didn't play in college, which is my biggest regret,” Leljedal said. “I focused more on academics, which is good, obviously, but I regret not getting to experience college athletics.”
He did get an early start on the game, however, and competed for a long stretch.
“I played soccer when I was five,” he added. “I played all the way through college, and then once I graduated, obviously, you play less. I used to play in an adult league that ran out in Elmira, but the last couple of years, they haven't run it. I played club soccer with Soaring Capitals in Elmira from six to 18, so I played it year round for a good 18, 20 years of my life. “
Leljedal is a social worker at the elementary school in Spencer.
“I got my degree in social work and didn't expect to end up in a school, but here we are,” he said.
He coached modified last year, then took the varsity job on a temporary basis.
“The plan is just for this year to do varsity while coach Friscia is on maternity leave, but we both kind of have the idea that we think varsity needs to have two coaches to be a competitive team,” Leljedal said. “Any serious varsity program's going to have two coaches, head coach and assistant coach, so ideally, next year, she comes back to head coach and I kind of move back to that assistant coach position.”
“She was contemplating hard, but it was a tough decision. Ultimately, I think she made the right choice.”
When asked if preferred coaching girls to boys, Leljedal noted he’s never coached boys.
“It's been an enjoyable experience so far,” he said. “I wouldn't be opposed at some point trying coaching for the boys, but for now I feel cemented with the girls and we'll see where it goes.”
The numbers could be a little thin this season.
“I think that's probably going to be one of our struggles again this year,” Leljedal said. “We lost more than we were hoping for. We only lost a few to graduation, but we lost an additional few to either transferring schools or choosing different sports.
“We'll probably have 13 to 14, but the core is really strong. Something we can look forward to in the coming years is the modified team is going to have really high numbers. They seem to be soccer dominated girls as opposed to just trying soccer for a year and then going to something else, so the coming years are looking promising. This year absolutely can be promising as well. We'll just have to fight through the numbers game.”
At Candor, girls soccer has to compete with a powerhouse volleyball program while the sport appears to be staging a comeback at S-VE.
“Our volleyball teams are actually split, and they have more than enough,” Leljedal said. “Volleyball is just a dominant sport right now.”
The new mentor doesn’t plan to put an all-out emphasis on offense or defense this season.
“My focus is going to be playing through the midfield, because if you can have a strong midfield, you can have a strong defense and strong offense,” he said. “A lot of what we're going to do in training and practice is short-sided fields, small games, uh, because when you can learn to dominate on a small field, you can dominate on a big field.
“Connecting the players a little bit more. I know last year, sometimes there were a few that would try to do things on their own, so I want to try to cultivate a more team approach, working on 1-2 passing as opposed to having one or two girls just trying to dribble through the whole defense. When you can get some triangle passing going on it's much more effective to break down defenses.
“Even though our few girls are capable of taking on two or three defenders, we're going to be way more successful if we can break them down through passing. Focusing on a passing approach through the midfield, hopefully, it'll give our defense time to not always be under pressure, because when your defense is under pressure all the time they're going to be scrambled.”
The Eagles’ first mandatory practice was Monday and a dozen players were present. Leljedal expects to have a roster of 14-15.
SVEC opens the season Sept. 4 against Whitney Point in Spencer.
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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
