Boys’ Soccer: Burns fired up for Sage Hill
Before the Sage Hill School boys’ soccer team held tryouts in the fall, Zach Burns learned he was going to play for a new coach. Burns’ coach, Gabriel Lucatero, at the time told him so.
Lucatero convened the team and informed Burns and the rest of the Lightning players that he was leaving after one season. The players and coach said their goodbyes, and a couple of weeks later, Burns met the team’s successor, Luis Cruz.
The meet-and-greet with a new coach wasn’t new for Burns. He was going through this for the fourth time in as many seasons with the Lightning.
“You roll with the punches,” Burns said of playing for someone new every winter. “You will never have a perfect scenario in a sport. Over the years, I’ve kind of learned how to deal with the new transition. Obviously after the third one, you kind of realize that you can’t really get to know a coach too well.”
From the first gathering with the Lightning, Cruz said he noticed that the morale of the team was not great. The team’s start to the season wasn’t either, Sage Hill lost a lot more than it won in December.
During the struggles, the one player who was the voice of reason was Burns. He understood why the team wasn’t off to the kind of roaring start Sage Hill experienced last season. Keep in mind that it took almost 2 1/2 months for Sage Hill to lose a match last season.
“We had a very tough preseason,” said Cruz, whose team lost to three Division 1 schools, Fountain Valley, Norco and Huntington Beach, by combined 10 goals, and two Division 2 schools, Whittier La Serna and Montebello Schurr, by a combined eight goals during nonleague action. “We played a lot of good schools. But it was the best thing for us to prepare.
“It was always very positive [during the slow start] and one of the reasons is Zach Burns. He knew what we were trying to do and he knew what the league would be compared to the preseason. He had a very clear picture.”
Burns knew the competition against bigger programs would bode well for the Lightning come Academy League play. And it has, as Sage Hill is perfect through seven league matches.
Burns, a center back, has anchored the team’s defense, which has only allowed one goal in league. The lone slip up came last week in an 8-1 victory at Oxford Academy.
While the league shutout streak ended at five matches, Sage Hill has outscored its league opponents, 28-1, during its seven wins. Even last season’s team had allowed more goals in the first seven contests in league, and it tied a match.
The one league opponent Sage Hill failed to beat last season was St. Margaret’s, which barely wound up repeating as the league champion. The Tartans tied Sage Hill, 1-1, and in the league finale, they defeated the Lightning, 1-0, handing Sage Hill its first setback all season.
“That was a tough game,” said Burns, who especially felt bad for his older brother, Will.
The Burns brothers were unable to lead Sage Hill to its first unbeaten regular season since 2006-07, when the school last claimed first in league. Will is gone, having graduated, but Sage Hill has another Burns starring at center back.
Never in Zach Burns’ wildest dreams did he think he would be playing the same position as his brother at Sage Hill. He can thank his current coach for moving him from the right wing to the heart of the defense.
Burns and fellow center back Gordon Strelow complement each other well. One senior is more physical, while the other senior plays more with a center midfielder’s mentality. Burns is the latter one.
“He’s one of those players that [is] extremely influential,” Cruz said of Burns. “He’s kind of like a model kid. When he speaks, his teammates listen. When the game is getting out of control, we go to him to give order to the game again. If we’ve lost the midfield, he plays holding mid for us. If we need a goal, we put him up [top].”
Burns misses being more involved on offense. Last season, he finished with three goals and four assists. He hasn’t found the back of the net yet, but that’s OK with him. The team continues to win and that’s all that matters.
Sage Hill recorded its sixth shutout in league at St. Margaret’s on Tuesday, winning 2-0. Five matches remain in league, and Cruz believes if Sage Hill can win the next two, at home against Downey Calvary Chapel on Tuesday and at Whitney on Thursday, the team is in the driver seat.
“I believe that we should win the league because the other teams all have at least two losses,” Cruz said.
“We’re hoping to lock [up] the league on [Thursday].”
If it plays out that way, Sage Hill winning a league crown, it will have achieved something none of the past three coaches Burns has played for has been able to do.
—
Zach Burns
Born: Nov. 30, 1996
Hometown: Dana Point
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 145 pounds
Sport: Soccer
Year: Senior
Coach: Luis Cruz
Favorite food: Chipotle burrito
Favorite movie: “The Shawshank Redemption”
Favorite athletic moment: Getting to the finals of the State Cup with United FC when he was in middle school.
Week in review: Burns helped Sage Hill remain undefeated in Academy League play.