Mike Sutherland is back on the touch line for the Corona High School boys soccer team and the difference is noticeable.
The Panthers (10-2-2 overall, 1-0-1 in Big VIII League going into Thursday’s match) are unbeaten in nine of their last 10 matches and have outscored opponents 48-16 so far this season.
“We’re back and we’re doing well,” said Sutherland, after playing to a 1-1 draw at Norco in the league opener on Friday, Jan. 3. “It’s been a challenge for (the players), it really has, and I think they’re finally starting to learn my culture and it’s becoming their culture.”
Sutherland, 63, led Corona to the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship in 2014 and then retired after the 2016 season. He never had fewer than 13 wins in a season from 2007-16, and totaled more than 100 victories during his previous stretch.
“I thought I was done and I thought I’d be done forever,” Sutherland said. “The program hasn’t won anything lately so they hit me up this past summer and said, ‘Hey Suds.’”
His return has the potential to upend the Big VIII League, which was won last season by King and the previous two years by Santiago.
“We’re not dialed in every day but the players are starting to learn that championship mentality and I’m confident that we’re going to get there,” Sutherland said.
Of the coaches in the Big VIII, Sutherland is far and away the most experienced with more than 40 years coaching high school and college soccer.
Among the others, Henry Sierra is currently in his 11th season at Santiago, Roosevelt’s Nicholas Lopiccolo is in his eighth season, and Norco’s Irving Lopez is in his seventh. Darren Bonanken just entered year two at Centennial, while Caleb Ikwuagwu is in his first season at King.
Corona defeated King 4-1 on Tuesday, Jan. 7 for Sutherland’s first league victory in nearly a decade.
“There’s tradition and he’s a legacy figure at Corona,” Lopez said. “It definitely gives us a little more fire, playing against him.”
CHURCHILL ON PACE
Roosevelt junior forward Ireland Churchill was held without a goal against Santiago on Tuesday, Jan. 7, but is still on pace to have the best season of her illustrious career.
“She’s more than just scoring goals,” Roosevelt coach Andrew Tillehkooh said. “Her intensity, her skill, her ability to draw fouls and connect with her teammates, it’s all there even if she doesn’t get on the score sheet.”
Already with 56 goals and a CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship in her first two seasons, Churchill is averaging a career-high 1.5 goals per game this season with 25 goals in 17 matches.
Last year’s CIFSS D1 player of the year, Churchill had 29 and 27 goals, respectively, each of her first two seasons and has totaled 80-plus goals and 30 assists in less than 70 career matches.
ONLY UNBEATENS
Of the many high school soccer teams in the Inland coverage area, only one boys team and two girls teams have yet to lose a match this season.
The Perris boys team is 9-0-1 and riding an eight-match winning streak after a 3-1 win over Hillcrest on Tuesday, Jan. 7. Senior Adriel Campos leads the Panthers with seven goals and four assists.
The Valley View girls team is 8-0-2 overall and has started Ivy League play 2-0-0 after wins over Arlington and Canyon Springs, and the Chaparral girls team is 6-0-0 overall after a preseason that included wins over Yucaipa, Beaumont, and Hemet, outscoring opponents 20-5 to begin the year.
