A sudden change of events transpired leading to former assistant coach Nathan Pyle taking over the Trinity Lutheran boys’ soccer program in 2024. Former Head Coach Todd Jack will still assist on the sidelines this season.

Pyle has been on the staff for the last three seasons and now becomes the Head Coach. He believes the team has come a long way over the past few seasons.

The team hosts Rising Sun tomorrow to open the season at 1 p.m., before hosting Austin on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

“Personally, I feel like the development of the team has been improving each year,” Pyle said. “We have been focusing a lot more on high school soccer type play. We have a couple of players returning for us. The ball moves through them, if we do that, it seems that everyone else follows through that.

Pyle is looking for more kids to get involved on the offensive side of the ball.

“We’ve been trying to get more people involved on offense,” he said. “I think that’s a big improvement, compared to last year when we were trying to plug guys in.”

Last season ended with a 4-3 sectional opening loss to Henryville. In which the Cougars trailed by 3 with ten minutes to go, before scoring twice in the final minutes, almost coming back to upset the Hornets.

Trinity has one senior for the upcoming season in Kade Gillaspy. Pyle expects big things out of the senior in the 2024 season.

“Kade has kind of been my project since he was freshmen,” Pyle said. “He’s worked hard to get to this point. After his sophomore year he shot up in height. He has goals for after high school. He’s training for that next level. The biggest thing with him is that he will continue working no matter what happens.”

“He doesn’t talk a whole lot, a very quiet kid off the field,” he added. “But on the field, he’s a whole different person and a leader.”

A lot of juniors and sophomores fill the Cougars’ roster. Levi Curry, Landon Gasaway, John Harris, Alex Overgaard, Adam Sutton, Ezra VanCuren are juniors. While Bryson Baker, Alexander Damon, Noah Lawrence, and Landon Manuel are the sophomores. The team has three first-year students in Luke Curry, Dane Gillaspy, and Travis Rieckers.

“We’ve got a lot more of our guys playing for the Columbus Express in the offseason,” Pyle said. “Those were some big-time seniors we lost last year. There are guys out here working to try and replace that loss.”

Pyle then gave his opinion on what keys will allow the team to have a successful season.

“I think just being open to learning every single day in practice. I like to preach that if you are practicing as hard as you can, when you get to the game, it will feel much easier and much more normal.

“I think if they are giving everything and improving every single day, this season will be a success for us.”