After six games, Ramona girls soccer team is ranked top in Division 3

One thing you can almost guarantee with a brand new head coach — enthusiasm.

Ramona High girls’ soccer coach Daniel Delgado is not only uber upbeat, but a 2008 Bulldog graduate who is an on-campus physical education teacher, and has some very good early-season numbers to go with it.

After six games, the team has a 4-1-1 record, which just scratches the surface. The team has outscored its opponents 14-2, with the one goal coming on a penalty kick. Translation: the defense has almost been unscored on.

The Bulldogs have five freshmen, four of whom start and two of which — Hallie Iglesias and Charlee Coerper —are the leading scorers.

And then there is this: Ramona is ranked No. 3 in the San Diego Section and MaxPreps lists the Bulldogs as the county’s No. 1-rated Division 3 team.

“Being a graduate and an on-campus teacher without a doubt is a big positive,” said Delgado. “I think it helps build rapport with the student-athletes and I know how supportive a community Ramona is being from here.

“We’re excited to have a fresh start, with everyone buying in, realizing that we’re all one team. We’re a young team with five freshmen on the varsity and 11 on the junior varsity but we also look to the seniors for leadership.” 

He says the team philosophy, shared by assistant coach Derek Roed (whose daughter Brooklyn is a freshman starter) begins with a strong defense and then moves up to the midfielders and forwards.

So what happened in a 1-0 loss to Mission Vista?

“It was our third game in a week, and I could tell watching them warm up that they were playing on tired legs, that the level of intensity was lower than the other games,” Delgado said. “But you balance that with our game against El Capitan, a Division 2 team, where we dominated play the first 25 minutes but just couldn’t get the ball in the net and ended up tying them 0-0.

“We’re playing as many games as we can against a variety of teams.

“The Valley League has two Division 2, three Division 3 and one Division 4 team, which will be a good test for us. I have such a passion for the game, and I hope it’s rubbing off on the players. We have great speed, good experience and my goal is to make them even more aggressive pressing the ball.

“As long as we have the ball, the other team can’t score. There is a lot of learning going on, both for the players and the coaches,” he said. 

The most recent win was a 2-1 victory over Escondido Charter — a team that beat the Bulldogs 5-1 a year ago.

The Bulldogs’ leading scorer from last year, junior Kenzie King (9 goals) returns after having a stellar season playing flag football. She and senior Shyann Cavaness have been key leaders.

Unlike some coaches, Delgado, a three-sport athlete at Ramona, encourages his players to try different sports.

“We have players who compete in track, volleyball and softball,” said the 36-year-old. “When they ask, I tell them to go ahead and do it (play other sports) because I want them to learn from other sports.

“The goal is always for them to have fun. When the smiles disappear, I get worried because I want them to have a great experience.”

Delgado’s only previous coaching experience was as an assistant coach with the Bulldog boys and he says he’s keenly aware that often boys and girls approach the game differently.

“With the girls, you have to communicate more,” said Delgado, admitting he’s still learning on the run, too. “A key to this team is communicating on and off the field, coaches and players.

“We’re going one game at a time. We don’t worry about ranking or anything like that because it’s so early in the season, but we want to learn from every game.

“I’m really excited. All of the players have experience (club teams) and they’re working well together. We take it game by game and of course, we want it to be a fun time. So far, so good.”