Thacher meets its match, 1-0
By Misty Volaski

It'll take Coach Fred Coleman a while to "get over" this season.
As Thacher's head boys' soccer coach, Coleman said this year's team was "bound together in a wonderful way."

Coleman and the Toads, who were undefeated in regular season play for the Condor League title, finished their history-making year Saturday with a loss to the St. Margaret's Tartans in the CIF-SS division VI championship game.

The Toads went through the first half a "little out of sync," noted Coleman. "We were a little overwhelmed, not by the physicality of the other team, but by the magnitude of the game. It was like a World Cup environment."

St. Margaret's only goal came off Tartan Bobby Oaks' foot, though it was not the sort of dramatic goal one might expect from a final game.

Both teams, however, were amazingly well-matched in speed and agility. Thacher, Coleman said, has been used to playing teams that were slower than them, especially in the fourth quarter.

"Honestly we outplayed them in the second half," Coleman added. "We had more than a few quality chances to score."
Though they lost the championship, the Toads still broke a lot of ground this year, regularly playing teams with
populations at least three times as big as Thacher.

This, combined with the close-knit environment that a boarding school brings, really unified the team, Coleman said.
"This was a really special group. We'll nevr have this group of 17 people together in the same way again. We were a family."

© 2003 The Ojai Valley News

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