After logging his daytime hours as an information-technology manager at The Boeing Company, Patrick Scheibe heads to his other job as coach of the Redmond High girls soccer team.
He wouldn’t have it any other way. He’s been with Redmond High for 18 years, and with Boeing for the same amount of time — the two go hand in hand.
“This is my reward at the end of the hard work day. I come out and hang out with the kids and work with them and coach. I meet a bunch of really neat kids,” said Scheibe, who will also be notching his 18th year of coaching the Mustangs’ boys team this spring.
Last season, the Mustangs sported an 8-7-3 overall record and lost to Eastlake, 2-1, in a shootout in the 4A Kingco consolation finals — one win short of a state berth. Kelsey Costello, now a junior, tied the game at 1-1 in the 70th minute with a 12-yard shot from the right side.
It was one of Redmond’s best showings in the last few years, said senior captain and forward Andrea Larson, adding that the Mustangs are “going to really need to step it up and show everyone we can move on in Kingco” again. The team carried five freshmen last year, and this season has another mixture of all classes, including more than half of its starting 11 from 2011.
Added captain Kristin Hayman, a senior midfielder and University of Notre Dame signee: “As far as last year goes, people maybe didn’t have the highest of expectations. So for me, that just kind of shows that every year all the teams come in and how they do really just depends on the work they put into it as opposed to maybe the talent that they get right at tryouts.”
“It’s fun to blend a bunch of different years and age groups in,” Scheibe said. “That’s my favorite thing about coaching sometimes, too, is that opportunity to figure out what hand you’re dealt with.”
Hayman and Kennedy Kieneker, a sophomore midfielder, were first-team all-Kingco selections last season. Sierra Bilginer, a junior forward, was a second-teamer and the Mustangs had several honorable mentions. Both Hayman and Bilginer are hot from the start with two goals each in Redmond’s season-opening, 4-0 victory over Glacier Peak on Tuesday at home.
Scheibe noted that Hayman is a solid technical player, has a fierce shot and makes the players around her better. “She’s not trying to be (flashy), she’s trying to do all the hard work, the real skill that you like to see your captains do,” the coach said.
The Mustangs’ other first-teamer, Kieneker, anchored the defense last year as a freshman with her tough and technical play, Scheibe said. This year, he’ll challenge Kieneker by moving her up to central midfield to join the offensive attack.
“(She got) a big grin on her face when I told her that was my plan for her,” Scheibe said. “The kids that are really established, I always like to add a new layer to them.”
While the talent is there, friendships are also crucial in making the team gel on and off the field, Larson said. After the team had a sleepover last year, the Mustangs got to know each other as girls first and then teammates — and success followed.
“So this year, we’ve been trying to do that,” she said. “Everyone from last year who was really young has grown a year and improved by a year, so I expect to improve from last year where we already did really well.”
In true leadership form, Hayman noted that while she was honored to make the all-Kingco first team last year, she’s excited for her teammates to make an impact and receive all-star honors this season, as well.
And plenty of Mustangs are up for the challenge.
“One of the great things is we have a deep bench with 20 people on the roster,” Hayman said. “So not only will that make it more competitive in training and more competitive for time on the field, but you just have that much more talent and that much more versatility. So that should definitely work in our favor.”
Tonight, the Mustangs will host Bonney Lake at 7:30 p.m.
