By Ed Shepherd
SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Committed.

That word seems apt to describe the Highline Pirates' boys soccer team of players as they go into the 2015 season that just commenced, with a split of games, a tie versus Evergreen and a loss to Mount Rainier, in the season-opening jamboree at Highline Memorial on Saturday.

How did the Pirates do last season?

"The team finished mid-table," said head coach, Eduardo Millan, speaking in a thick, South American accent, as he should since he hails from Venezuela. And, there, growing up, Millan played at a very high youth level, having been on the prestigious, U-15, U-17, ages, Venezuelan national team.

Millan is in his second season coaching Highline.

Finishing 'mid-table,' if one does not know that term, as, it's pretty gritty soccer-speak, is when a team finishes in the middle of the standings of a given league. So the Rams finished with an average season last year in the Seamount League.

So, not a great season for the Pirates. Not terrible, but could have been better.

The Pirates' Gurjit Dhesi, who scored the team's goal against Evergreen in the first game of his team's jamboree, for a 1-1 tie, said these words of Millan's influence on the team.

"He really emphasizes players being there for each other," said Dhesi.

And, Millan has put an emphasis on some things from the start of his coaching the Pirates, in boys soccer, back in 2014. That emphasis is on what players must concentrate on outside of playing soccer on the team: school.

Millan's commitment to emphasizing books first, soccer second, has led to players not following Millan's coaching philosophy getting in his cross hairs, a position that is deadly to those wanting to play soccer for Highline but not keeping up with studies.

Nice commitment, there, by Millan, gutsy even, as it hurt his team last season and, to a lesser extent, this season, too. That is because a half dozen, or so, of the school's best players did not play varsity last season because of grades issues.

"I have an emphasis on grades," said Millan. "Only two players are not eligible because of grades now. Last year, five or six were not eligible. For a quick season, you need to have everyone committed."

High school seasons run from mid-March to late April before districts and state playoffs kick off, starting in early May. So, not a long season at all.

Because of grades' deficiencies now, there is a good chance those players would still not be on the team a month from now, into the season, halfway through, when the grade checks come along once again.

"I want everyone there the whole season," said Millan.

Strengths will be mentioned, too, but first is weaknesses. And, speaking of such things, it all came back to a commitment type of understanding that these players must fight through, keeping eyes on teachers in class, playing X-Box until 10 p.m., not 2 a.m., on school nights. Those kinds of things are this team's potential weakness.

So, one might have thought the weakness Millan would say would be a fullback position a weak point, or, maybe, a tendency for the team to not pass the ball around enough. But that wasn't it. It was something else entirely, as the team's main weakness, that Millan related. Yes, a weakness for the team, totally, unrelated to soccer skills.

"Time management, making sure we are taking care of our business when we need to," said Millan, this speaks of school stuff, keeping grades up, more than anything else, if one's not sure what to guess by what's just been said there by Millan.

For strengths, MIllan spoke about several things, a plurality of reasons for why this team could excel this season, certainly, improve on its middle-of-the-road finish in the Seamount last year.

"We have a good amount of depth, players can come in and out of the game, and, we perform the same on the field," said Millan.

And, other strengths?

"Good chemistry on the team," said Millan.

And?

"The technicality of the players is a bit higher than last year," said Millan.

That means that players understand the game better, having been subjected to Millan's teaching dribbling, passing, shooting, defending. Their skills are sharper, and their game acumen's improved moderately.

"Definitely, leaders," said Millan of the already-mentioned Dhesi, and also Alex Muresan, the Pirates' other captain, and a senior, too.

Of his two captains, Millan spoke the same of each in some sense and in another sense, a little contrast to each's game.

"Their work ethics are great," said Millan. "Great GPA's, which is something I strive for in my student athletes. Gurjit is very technical, with great vision and good in the air (for getting headers). Alex is a speedster, fast, and also good in the air. He likes to have fun with the ball."

Millan also mentioned some other things, too, and, really, they are just more strengths of the Pirates' team.

"We have a set of twins, freshmen Alexis and Christian Cortes," said Millan. "They are extremely gifted young players. Hopefully, they have a long career ahead of them."

And, still gushing out more strengths, Millan ushered words of praise for a couple others on the team, in addition to mentioning his captains once more.

"Diego, Edgar, Gurjit, Alex, are players who can do damage with the ball," said Millan. "There vision of the game is exceptional, last year to this year, much better. All a part of maturity and growth."

The second game of the jamboree for the Pirates was a growing experience against Mount Rainier -- it was a loss. But, too, it was close, evenly played, throughout. The Rams scored, late, with 3:15 left in the 20-minute game, which, incidentally, the jamboree format is with no halves, and games don't count on team's season overall records.

And games are just a much shorter duration of play to regular games during the season of 80 minutes each, with halftime after the first 40 minutes of play. But, the Pirates, after that Rams' score just about got the equalizer with a minute left in the game. A nice triangular passing play led to the almost-score.

"A great build, up the middle to the flank," said Millan. "Pedro (Casto) saw the switch, saw the space across the field, one-timed to Edgar (Gonzalez) who one-timed a pass to the middle for Alexis (Cortes)."

Cortes tried, desperately, to catch up to the location of Gonzalez' crossed ball, but it skirted just past Cortes' outstretched, sliding, foot.

"Missed by inches," said Millan.

And, that would have been a nice score for the Pirates to tie the game, but, again, these games do not count on the season records, and these games are more for coaches to try different line-ups, see how players perform in game-like situations, let players get one last go at, maybe, proving they are not a bench player, they are a starter.

"It wasn't the best we could play in the jamboree," said Muresan, a midfielder and forward, in addition to the duties of a captain. "But, we were testing out a lot of formations. We know we have a lot of things to work on."

Added Dhesi, "There are times in the game, we did things that need work. I made a couple passes to places I expected players to be, and players made passes to me that they expected me to have moved differently."

The team is getting an understanding of each other in practices, but, also, in other ways and in other places. Dhesi mentioned that Millan wants players 'being there for each other,' and, here is one big way how that is getting done: fun.

"We do a lot of FIFA Soccer video game playing, on the X-Box, together," said Muresan.

"We have competitions," said Dhesi. "Brings us closer."

Wait, though. What happens when one loses and doesn't like it? That's being a bad loser.

Any one want to mention who on the team has been a bad loser?

Both captains laughed, and Millan creased a smile, too.

"If we are (a bad loser), we are doing push-ups," said Muresan.

The Pirates start off their regular Seamount League season against Renton at 5:30 p.m. on March 20 before coming to Highline Memorial for a 1 p.m. game on March 21. Then, the Pirates play Kennedy Catholic at 7:30 p.m. on March 24 at Highline Memorial.