When Chris Roe ’97 was named head coach for girls soccer this season, he says he was “nervously excited and cautiously optimistic.” He didn’t need to be nervous, and he was right to be optimistic. The varsity team is 13-7-3 in the regular season, with a record 15 shutouts.
The girls start playoffs Tuesday, May 17, against Rich Central at Oak Forest High School at 4:30pm. With a win Tuesday, they advance to the regional final Friday at 5pm at Oak Forest High School again.
Roe is just the third coach in the program’s history, but is familiar with the school and team. “I have been an assistant for Marist for 14 years and have learned a lot,” Roe explained. “I felt ready to take on this next challenge.” Roe also played for Marist himself, and has coached club and other teams for 15 years.
Roe says as a coach, “I like to out-work opponents and attack. I use high pressure to create turnovers and use the midfield to switch play from side to side to catch defense off guard.” And it’s worked, with the team having success both in and out of conference. He’s been most impressed with the ability Marist’s defense has to shutdown opponents’ offense. Roe says creating offense is what they have had to work on the most. “We have come a long way from the beginning of the season and things are starting to come together. Like the old saying goes, ‘Offense wins games, DEFENSE wins championships!’”
The future is bright for Marist soccer, too, as both the freshman and junior varsity teams finished 10-3-1.
He says he and the players are excited to start playoffs and hopes fans will come out to show their support.
Coach Roe will offer soccer camp this summer for grade school and Marist students. Register online.