Millikan has won back-to-back Moore League boys’ soccer championships, and 12 of the last 17 league titles, by relying on quality in-game adjustments and strong senior leadership.
The Rams once again have the pieces in place to be kings of Long Beach once again. Coach Jeff Schofield has shown a deft ability to put his players in the best positions to succeed since taking over the program four years ago, and he has a reliable senior captain in Juan Vasquez to lead the way for a relatively young roster.
“It’s my third year in the program, so I try to be a role model on how to act and how to comprehend the information from Schofield,” Vasquez said. “Not every player is going to connect right away, so since I’ve been with Schofield for awhile, I know the way he thinks and what drills he wants to do and I help the younger guys out.”
“He has arguably been one of the top players (in the league) the last two years, and he’s a really good kid,” Schofield said of Vasquez. “It’s great to have one of your top players be that guy because he sets the example. He’s always picking cones up and putting stuff away. He does all of those intangibles. It’s great to have him as a leader.”
Vasquez’s versatility in the midfield has been instrumental to Millikan’s recent success that carried the Rams to a CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal last year.
“He’s such a calming presence,” Schofield said. “He’s never rattled by anything. He always has a plan as he receives the ball. He really is the total package.”
That trust is shared by Vasquez (pictured left) and his teammates.
“(Coach) keeps us in line and locked in, he is very educated and he knows what he’s doing,” Vasquez said. “He analyzes the game very well. Last year he made some switches at halftime that won us some games.”
Schofield attributes some of Millikan’s success to his willingness to look at the big picture.
“We tried to build a program instead of a very good soccer team,” Schofield said. “We’ve got a huge social media presence. We do a media day and all of our equipment and uniforms are top notch. They’re getting the benefits and publicity that is important to high school kids these days. We tried to manage all of that stuff rather than just concentrate on the on field success. I think that makes them happy, and happy kids will work harder for you.”
Vasquez said he’s been working hard on improving his weaker right foot and field vision in the offseason. He will be joined in the midfield by senior Sergio Lica and sophomore Bernardo Torres. Both of them got minutes in big games last season.
Millikan lost a large and talented senior class to graduation, including top scorer and Moore League MVP Aaron De Leon, but Schofield hopes that sophomore Wylan Gohn, junior Vonnae Ocegueda and senior Justin Marchese can step up in attack after scoring a lot of goals at the lower levels.
Defensively, goalkeeper Stacey McLean has stepped in to be the anchor after getting quality time as a sophomore. In front of him will be capable defenders like Ivan Cervantes, Cody Ekblad and Pablo Lica. The junior Cervantes (pictured above) was All-Moore League last season alongside Vasquez.
“Consistency is important (in the Moore League) because anybody can beat anybody if you’re unprepared,” Schofield said. “We’ve seen that the last couple of years. You have to win games. My first couple of years we’d be in tight games and I’d go, ‘Eh, if we hold onto a tie that’s okay.’ Philosophically, we’re going to try to win every game. One of those years we lost because we had a couple 0-0 ties and so we have to be more open and willing to attack because we have to score more goals to win.”
