Crusaders look to build on soccer success

Coach Tony Arce is preparing for the upcoming Harrells Christian Academy boys soccer season, but for the first time, he is at the helm of the program for the Crusaders.

Arce has spent some time as the assistant coach within the program, but this year he was selected to be the new head coach.

“Coming from assistant coach last year,” Arce said, in regards to continuing to build the winning culture at HCA, “and this is my first year as head coach … I’m going to keep doing what we’ve been doing, but I have a few changes that I have [to make].”

Speaking on those changes, the new Crusader coach said it involves a couple of things, some of which are routine and accountability. “I think [accountability] is a big part for the boys; to be out there and everybody knows what their job is … when all the jobs work together, I think you have success.”

The Crusaders went 11-5 last season, including 7-3 in the NCISAA Carolina Independent 2A/1A Conference. Members of the conference include Fayetteville Academy, Rocky Mount Academy,Kerr-Vance Academy, Faith Christian, and Oakwood. The Crusaders set the bar for goals allowed in conference play, with just 16 hitting the net. They also set the conference low for goals allowed overall with 30.

This strong performance allowed them to make the playoffs, where they were defeated in the second round by Berean Baptist Academy.

“[It] feels good,” said Arce. “I know a lot of the kids were proud of themselves, and we were just as proud of them, if not more. They worked really hard during the season.”

“We had a lot injuries … and much like this year, we had a lot of young players. It’s always a big hurdle to overcome, size-wise and experience-wise. I think, overall, it was a great season,” he continued.

Continuing that success into this season, he said, will rely on some of the younger players stepping up into the roles that were previously held by seniors that graduated.

“A lot of the kids that have been in the program for several years are moving into their sophomore years, growing a little bit,” Arce said. “I feel like just the same fundamentals that we’ve focused on in practice and bring to the games, just the tenacity that they have — all the kids here are fighters. So, regardless of who we’re playing against, no matter what school it is, we never give up. So, I would love it for us to get past the second round, and obviously a state championship, but we’ll see how things go this year.”

A challenge that HCA sees that other schools might not is that their conference spans both 1A and 2A, which means they will faceoff against bigger schools sometimes. One of these schools is Fayetteville Academy, who seemingly had the Crusaders’ number last season, beating them 4-0 in both their meetings.

Arce is shifting his focus onto this season, hoping to build off of last year’s relative success, he said. One of their highlights from last season was the stout defense, which helped their younger goalie. “I think what will benefit us is that a lot of our players on the defensive end of the ball are long-time in the program, and they’re in the upper grade levels, as far as sophomores, juniors, and seniors. They have a good knowledge of the game, as far as defense goes, and they mesh well — they’ve been playing together for years.”

Having players that have spent time in the program from a young age is something that Arce talked at length about, which he said helps him develop his teams.

The Crusaders have turned their program around from a 1-9 record in 2020, which Arce attributes to something that might be overlooked. “A lot of it plays into something that we [the coaches] didn’t necessarily do; it was continuity, getting the same kids to come out year-after-year and play together. One of the biggest things in soccer is that it’s like a dance out there — everybody needs to know their place and their role. If you have a big influx of new kids who haven’t played together, that’s where you kind of miss the mark.”

“I think last year, we had plenty of kids who had continuity playing together,” he continued.

The Crusaders, Arce, and the HCA community have their eyes on the upcoming season on the pitch, where they hope to capitalize on last year’s success and turn it into another successful season.

Harrells opens up the season on Aug. 15 at Arendell Parrott Academy.