The Cheney High School boys soccer team made new head coach Morgan Hartanov’s first high school head coaching appearance a successful one, downing Greater Spokane League 3A North Central 5-0 in a rare season-opener on the home pitch last Friday.
Gabe Henenway put the Blackhawks on the board with a 12-13 yard shot from just left of the penalty circle in the 16th minute off an assist by Camden VerStrate. Henenway followed that with his second goal 12 minutes later from about the same position, but 3-4 yards closer, assisted this time by Christian Lamphere.
VerStrate got his first goal of the season early in the second half, assisted by Blake Smith, and Cheney played add-on with an unassisted goal from Noah Prophet and a final goal by Alfredo Camarena, assisted by Noah Schorzman. The Blackhawks out shot a young Indians team 15-4, with goalkeeper Jaystin Stranger making a pair of saves.
Hartanov was pleased with how his team played, especially since he started four freshmen in place of four missing starters, two of who are injured. One of those freshmen, VerStrate, had a goal and an assist while another, Schorzman, added another assist.
“They looked good,” Hartanov said of the team. “I’m excited to see what they can do.”
Cheney controlled the pace and flow of the game over most of the 80 minutes. Hartanov said they focused a lot on the defensive side of the ball, and had “a ton of opportunities” to score on offense.
“It could’ve been 15-0,” he added.
To fill in for his missing players, Hartanov also brought up some junior varsity/swing players, such as Stranger, to get some minutes.
The Blackhawks began action in earnest with three games this week, including their Great Northern League opener today (March 17) at East Valley. Cheney also hosts West Valley this Saturday, and traveled to Ephrata to take on the Central Washington Athletic Conference Tigers Tuesday.
Additional Blackhawks soccer playoffs
A story about new Cheney High School boys soccer head coach Morgan Hartanov in the March 10 Cheney Free Press had some incomplete information regarding the number of times the Blackhawks have made the playoffs.
According to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association’s website, Cheney made the state playoffs for the first time in 1986, and followed that with appearances in 1989, 1992 and 1996 – 1998. The Blackhawks earned their first win by defeating West Valley (Yakima) 1-0 in 1992.
John McCallum can be reached at jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.
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