Springstead Soars to Third Straight Conference Title

For the third year in a row, the Springstead Eagles (10-0) are Gulf Coast 8 Conference champions. The talented soccer team, led by Head Coach Dominic Coco, blanked the Hernando Leopards at the Tom Fisher Stadium 8-0 to take the conference crown.

“A lot of hard work put in, a lot of time by the coaching staff, and a lot of time and dedication from the players,” said Coach Coco. “They make my job very easy as the head coach, and they deserve the opportunity for a third straight championship but also a chance to compete and hopefully win the district championship next.”

The undefeated Eagles have been dominant throughout the season up to this point, outscoring their competition by a whopping 53-6 margin. While it has been a collective effort to accomplish this feat in three consecutive years, a couple of players have stood out to the head coach for their strong 2024 campaigns.

Junior Kody Levasseur was the first to come to mind. The Eagles’ midfielder worked his way up since his freshman year and has earned his stripes. Since seeing time on the pitch this season, he has compiled two goals and three assists across five games played.

As his coach put it, Levasseur has been “waiting his time for his opportunity to finally start and it’s really paid off for him. He’s one of the better stories that we’ve had on our team so far this year.”

The other highly impactful player that Coach Coco credited for the success of his squad was Senior Forward and multi-sport athlete Raul Maldonado. He has been “leading our team right now” with 17 goals and 4 assists, and he continued to do so with a hat trick against the Leopards on Tuesday.

Despite the great success, it is critical to stay humble. Plenty of teams across all sports have succumbed to apathy following prolonged periods of prosperity. For the Eagles’ staff, they have worked to maintain a hungry attitude throughout their winning streak.

“I think the biggest challenge has been just keeping the players’ heads above water in terms of not overlooking the next opponent, not looking too far ahead,” said Coach Coco. “Just keeping the one direction that we have been going all year and just taking it game by game and just making sure that players are doing what they need to do,” both on and off the field.

The head coach has a vast career of instruction in the sport. Beginning as a 17-year-old, he started out coaching club teams. He then went on to coach college and even professional indoor squads before landing with the Eagles over three years ago.

Now in his fourth season with the Red, White, and Blue, the veteran coach has “taken a lot of all the accomplishments and everything I’ve learned from previous coaches under my time both as a coach and as a player and made it into my own. I’ve had really great success with it.”