Preview: Coldwater soccer looks to rebuild in 2024, kicks off season at 1-1

COLDWATER – The Coldwater Cardinal boys varsity soccer program enters the 2024 season in a bit of a rebuild after sharing Interstate 8 Conference championship honors last season with Parma Western, finishing the year at 5-1 in the conference and 11-7-2 overall.

“After graduating a huge senior class and having several underclassmen not return, we will have a total new look with only six players from last year’s team on the varsity roster,” Coldwater coach Ken Delaney said.  “But five of those were starters for most of last season.”

Top Returners

Returning to lead the Cardinal offense is Interstate 8 All-Conference junior midfielder Austin Accardi. The stingy Coldwater defense will look to a pair of Interstate 8 All-Conference juniors to hold opposing teams in check as defender Sam Pernia and goalkeeper Franky Ramos return.

Team Outlook

“Our strength will be our quickness and ability to press opponents into mistakes,” Delaney said. “Several new players, both from last year’s junior varsity team or players that have never played for the program before, should add to the offensive punch. This is an incredibly talented bunch that plays well together and should be able to challenge for conference and district titles.”

Interesting Fact

The Coldwater Cardinals are a remarkably diverse soccer team, as the program has players whose parents were born in four different countries, in addition to the United States, all of whom are permanent students, not exchange students. Suiting up for the Cardinals this season will be players whose parents hail from Mexico, Yemen, Venezuela, and Columbia, in addition to the United States.

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Coldwater kicks of new season 1-1

The Cardinals kicked off their season on Tuesday as Chelsea visited Coldwater for season opening soccer action.

Coldwater locked things down defensively early and never looked back, shutting out the Bulldogs to take the match 2-0.

Ramos netted the shutout win, making for saves in goal as the Cardinals outshot the Bulldogs 19-4.

Coldwater’s first goal came just 40 seconds into the second half as it was Accardi hitting a long range shot to get the scoring started.

After Chelsea missed a penalty kick midway through the second half that may have tied the game, it was Essam Ahmed adding the insurance goal with 1:51 left to give the Cardinals the 2-0 win.

On Wednesday night, the Cardinals dropped their first game of the season, falling to last year’s Division 3 state runner-up in Detroit Country Day by the score of 3-2.

Coldwater started off the scoring late in the first half as it was Dawoond Gasby finding the back of the net on an assist from Nasser Abdulla, giving the Cardinals the 1-0 lead which they would hold into the half.

Detroit controlled much of the second half, scoring three goals in the first 15 minutes of play, including one on a penalty kick to build a 3-1 lead.

Coldwater added a late goal on a penalty kick from Accardi with 14 seconds left, finding the final score of 3-2.

Ramos made nine saves in goal as Detroit Country Day outshot Coldwater 14-7 in the game, improving their record to 4-1 on the season.

Coldwater is now 1-1 on the season and will next see action Saturday at DeWitt High School when they face East Grand Rapids in the first round of the Panther Cup.

This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Preview: Coldwater soccer looks to rebuild in 2024, kicks off season at 1-1