Preps

Soccer: PHU shuts out Clearwater

By BRANDON WRIGHT, Times Staff Writer
Published November 8, 2007

PALM HARBOR - Coach Alex Delgado stalked the sidelines, barking orders during Palm Harbor University's 3-0 win against Clearwater on Wednesday night. Each sentence was spiked with emotion, every word packed with punctuation. The fresh-faced first-year coach gave the impression he wanted to lace up the boots himself.

"I was these guys five years ago," Delgado said.

Delgado, who just wrapped up a four-year soccer career at the University of Tampa, is the new coach of arguably the most successful county boys team the past two years, taking over for Mike Mannino days before tryouts.

"Yeah, you could definitely say it happened quickly," he said. "Very quickly."

Delgado inherits a Hurricanes team that won the 5A state title two years ago and finished runnerup last season. But this year's squad is nearly as green as its coach.

All but three starters are gone, including two-time defending scoring champ Eugene Starikov. Most of the early part of the season has been spent on introductions and memorizing names.

All this seems a lot for a 24-year-old with no high school coaching experience.

"I sensed at first they had to get used to the fact that I'm their coach, not their buddy," Delgado said. "But I think (being younger) is good because I can relate to them."

Delgado, a fiery presence on the sideline, is a far cry from the mostly mild-mannered Mannino.

"Practices are very, very intense," senior striker Ishmail Kamara said. "I think we were missing some of that last year."

Delgado, part of PHU's first state championship team in 2002, said something else had been missing.

"There seemed to be a lack of tradition regarding the previous players," Delgado said. "There was a foundation laid when this program started, and I want to bring that back."

And it would be harder to look any further back than to the player who scored PHU's first goal in school history: Craig McGarrigle.

So what did Delgado do? Name McGarrigle assistant coach.

"We're trying to instill traditions and traditions that were shown to us," said McGarrigle, who played from 1996-98. "It's going to be one big, big happy family again."

[Last modified November 8, 2007, 00:26:35]