New coach, seasoned players give Belles a fighting chance
by Thomas Sullivan · March 26, 2008

The Belles ring in this year’s soccer season with a new head coach, a seasoned group of players, and high hopes for a winning season. Guided by Coach Ruben Galvan, the girls’ team puts its skills to the test at home on Monday, March 31, at 5:00 p.m. against Keokuk.

Senior Ellie McNutt and juniors Ashley Montelongo, Marta Martinez, Roxana Sanchez, Alma Avila, Jill Hamer, and Maritza Castaneda lead the varsity/JV pack of thirty girls this season. With an experienced roster comes the chance to take the team to a higher level of play, especially in the starting conference.

“It’s definitely an opportunity to refine the starting line-up,” said Coach Galvan. “It’s now key to see which freshmen and sophomores step up in this club.”

As a new coach, he noted that his initial challenge would be getting on par with the girls’ current skills and areas for improvement. The Belles’ coach carries a strong confidence in his team’s ability this season, positive they would be able to finish the year with a winning season. The effort during spring practice, Galvan noted, gave him a strong hope for victory during the first upcoming games.

“The girls have been working extremely hard over these past few weeks,” he added. “I’m excited for this season.”

However, Galvan passed on much of the credit to former girls’ head coach and current assistant coach Mike Ose, for his molding of the veteran Belle team.

“I think Mr. Ose has done a good job keeping participation up, and I think that now, we can finally put it all together,” said Galvan. “Hopefully now they’ll come together and play as a team.”

Although this is his first year as head coach of the Belles, it won’t be the first time this West Liberty resident has called the shots from the sidelines. As a former head coach to the Comets soccer team, he gave the plays for three years before becoming an assistant baseball coach. Currently, he spends the fall season at the high school as the Belles’ head volleyball coach.