‘Canes reaction to new coach? Soper!

Former assistant takes reins of girls varsity soccer team

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by MICHAEL REID Rob Soper takes over a talent-rich Huntingtown girls soccer team that was 12-4-1 last year and that has been to the state playoffs two of the last three years E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

‘‘It’s my passion and it’s what I love to do,” Soper said recently after helping out at a youth soccer camp at Hallowing Point Park in Prince Frederick. ‘‘It was a no-brainer [to apply]. I was excited about the opportunity and now I’m really looking forward to the season.”

Soper takes over for Gina Hobson, who stepped down for family reasons after a three-year stint. Hobson, who led the Hurricanes to the state playoffs in 2005 and 2006, had a record of 39-14-2 with the team.

‘‘Heart and experience,” Hobson said when asked what the 43-year-old Huntingtown resident brings to the program. ‘‘He’s a hardworking coach. He puts a lot of time into it, both on and off the field. I think everything is in place and he’s a good fit.”

And it’s not just Hobson who thinks Soper is the right piece of the Huntingtown soccer puzzle.

‘‘He’s a really good coach and he’s definitely positive and he knows a lot about the game,” said Stephanie Taylor, a rising senior. ‘‘I’m definitely excited.”

‘‘He’s really good,” said teammate Kelly Kady, also a rising senior. ‘‘I’m excited to play for him.”

Former Calvert varsity girls coach Doug Jones, who had Soper as an assistant for a year, agreed.

‘‘They’re getting a fabulous coach,” he said. ‘‘This is one very skilled person. He’s very knowledgeable coach. Not only is he a very fine player but he has a lot of soccer smarts. He knows the game and he can teach the game. He’s going to have a very formidable program.”

Soper graduated from Thomas Stone High School in 1982 where he was a three-year starter on the varsity team. During his tenure, the Cougars won the SMAC championship twice and were crowned Class 3A South regional champions three times. After a year at Charles County Community College, now called College of Southern Maryland today, Soper transferred to Salisbury University where he played back⁄sweep for three years.

He graduated in 1987 with a degree in liberal studies and entered the Army. He stayed there for his four-year stint and saw action during Operation Desert Storm.

He currently works at the Census Bureau and has two children; Mitchell and Lauren, a rising sophomore at Huntingtown.

He was an assistant coach with the Thomas Stone boys soccer team for a year and was Jones’ assistant at Calvert for another season. He’s been an assistant at Huntingtown the previous two years.

‘‘It was huge, because I had the opportunity to be very much involved but at the same time, I could sit back and do some assessing,” Soper said of his two-year stint with the Hurricanes. ‘‘I could determine where I think we can improve, where our weaknesses are and what areas we need to improve in and what things we can do different on the pitch tactically this year. I feel like I established a real good rapport .”

Kady and Taylor agree that adjusting to a new coach for their senior campaigns would have been more difficult had Soper not been with the team.

‘‘I think it would have been more frustrating if it was somebody that didn’t know the program as well,” Kady said. ‘‘But the fact he was on the staff before makes it an easier transition.”

‘‘It is tough, but since he was there last year, we all got to know him pretty well,” Taylor said. ‘‘We know what he expects of us so it won’t be too much of a difference.”

What Soper expects is hard work, and plenty of it. He said there will be no long discussions to open or close practice and no standing still. He said he’ll carry a three-hour practice plan for a 120-minute session.

‘‘I’m a little demanding, [because] I have expectations,” he said. ‘‘I wouldn’t say I’m a huge disciplinarian, but I do expect discipline and I expect effort. Give me effort and everything will take care of itself. When we practice, we’re not standing around for two hours; they’re going to work for two hours. Practice time is valuable, because you don’t have a whole lot of time; you really don’t. We don’t have a real big window, so you need to be efficient with what you have.”

‘‘Oh my gosh, yeah,” Jones said when asked if Soper’s players will work hard. ‘‘He’s going to have one very tight program. They will work, that’s an understatement. They definitely will work.”

But Kady and Taylor are fine with that.

‘‘Yeah, I know [that we will work hard], but I definitely think we need to work hard,” Taylor said. ‘‘If we want to go to states and hopefully win, that’s what we’re going to have to do, so I’m ready.”

‘‘Our fitness level will be better and our team bonding will be a lot better than it was last year,” Kady said. ‘‘That’s something we lacked and we all need. It’s all about the team.”

Soper said his expectations on the eve of the season with a slate full of marquee players are as high as his practice sessions.

‘‘My approach is to win every game,” he said. ‘‘It sounds arrogant and I don’t mean it to sound arrogant, but it is a game-by-game situation. We play every game to win every game. My goal is to win three games in November, which says it all, because if you win three games in November, you’ve won states.”