Triway girls soccer 'all in' en route to solid start to season
The Triway girls soccer team, under third-year head coach Tyrone Hostetler, has already matched last season's win total.
When Tyrone Hostetler took over Triway's girls soccer program, he had big goals.
Like any coach, Hostetler wanted to establish a team that was skilled and organized, bringing stability to a program that has been anything but that in recent years.
More importantly, however, it was about showing his players he was in it for one important reason — them.
“One of the first things I wanted to do when I took the job and met the team was to get the girls to be proud of being part of the Triway girls soccer program,” Hostetler said. “We as a coaching staff wanted to make sure the girls knew we cared, and we were going to give them the tools to not only have success on the field, but also off the field.”
In just three years, Hostetler and his staff have done just that.
Through the first three weeks of the season, the Titans have already matched last year's win total — winning their fourth game on Aug. 29 in a 1-0 thriller at Fairless — and have dropped 1-0 heartbreakers to current Principals Athletic Conference leader Tuslaw and local power Norwayne, a regional qualifier last season.
It's a never-quit mindset Hostetler said was far from easy to establish in the first year but one he saw starting to catch on a year ago when Triway won its first postseason game since 2006, a 1-0 victory over Cleveland Villa Angela-St. Joseph, before losing to a strong Wickliffe team.
Hostetler's philosophy of playing hard, fast and under control was starting to take hold.
“We really struggled with this the first season and a half,” he said. “Last season toward the end of the season, things came together, and we really started to buy into this and won our last regular-season game (4-0 over St. Thomas Aquinas) and won our first tournament game.
“This year they have really bought into this, and we play hard and give great effort for the 80 (minutes).”
It starts with defense for the Titans.
Seniors Jaira Daye, Annie Mariola, Kara Steiner and Ella Wigal and freshman Teiryn Flinner have made up a solid back line, which, along with goalkeeper Addi Gentry, has allowed just six goals in the first seven matches.
With the effort the Titans have been able to create more opportunities in the counterattack, as they have scored 18 times already this season and enter the week of Sept. 9 with a 4-3-0 record — matching last year's win total and putting the team on pace for its best season in well over a decade.
Along with those upperclassmen on the back line, junior Kylee Strong — a first-team All-PAC selection last season — is another threat, along with seniors Ellie Golias and Ava Golias, two more in an eight-player senior class boasting seven in their third season as starters. Those veterans — 17 players back from a season ago in all — have helped reinforce some of the program standards to a strong group of underclassmen this fall.
Hostetler has taken the program from 15 total players to 27 this season, allowing for a full junior varsity schedule, adding even more depth to an already-growing program.
And it all starts with a relentless attitude that was established from day one by the coaches and, more importantly, is now being enforced by the players.
“Our main strength is that we play hard for the full 80 minutes, and we never give up. Our effort level is nonstop and creates a lot of chances on goal,” Hostetler said. “Hopefully, that continues, and we can start finishing those chances.”