Sophomore Josh Totte, a starting center midfielder on last year’s Paly’s boys varsity soccer team, will not return to the squad this year because of his participation on a club team.

– Matt Ersted

This year, Palo Alto High School’s varsity boys’ soccer team will have a very different feel compared to teams of previous years, as none of last year’s starting 11 are returning due to graduation and Central Coast Section rules.

Along with losing 10 graduating seniors, seven of whom were starters, Paly also lost nine juniors and underclassmen from last year.

Many top level players, including junior Grant Shorin, have been deemed ineligible to participate by CCS rules this year. The CCS rule states that once students play for their school team, they cannot represent their club team for the rest of the season.

Shorin’s team — Palo Alto Soccer Club 95B Blue — participated in Disney’s Soccer Showcase in Florida over winter break. By fulfilling their commitments to their clubs, players have made themselves ineligible to play for Paly.

According to Shorin, if a player played a club game following a league game, all prior league games for Paly would be forfeited.  Therefore, if Shorin and other club players played in Disney’s Soccer Showcase in Florida after playing in non-league games this December, those games would be forfeited.

However, the league season doesn’t start until today, following the showcase in Florida.  Meaning, club players could join the team before league season starts without forfeiting any league games.

Paly head coach Donald Briggs thinks this is unfair to the team, Shorin says.

“The rules say that you can still play once club finishes, but [coach] Briggs says that it would be unfair to the rest of the team if he let us play after club is over, so he isn’t letting us play at all,” Shorin said.

Junior Christian Huard, who is one of the many players with no varsity experience, recognizes the amount of skill the team will miss this season.

“We lost a lot of talent to club teams that are playing year round,” he said.

The team has gotten off to a rocky start in the non-league season, losing six of seven games so far.

Despite this, Briggs remains optimistic; he says he understands that the leadership and experience of last year’s players will be missed, but he remains confident in his young players.

“All these young players have lots of potential,” Briggs said. “They have great attitudes — they work hard and never give up.”

However, Briggs acknowledges that the young players have a steep learning curve ahead of them.

“They are trying hard and beginning to compete at the higher level.  The pace of the game is faster than they have been used to and things they are accustomed to with other younger players do not work with 17 and 18-year-olds,” Briggs said.

Briggs says that, in order for the team to have success, improvement and progress must be made.

“We need to be as fit as possible and improve every aspect of our game from defending to attacking and eventually scoring,” Briggs said.

Given the number of underclassmen and new faces on the team this year, Paly, which has typically been in contention for the postseason, has altered its goals for this year.

“My goal is for both the players and the team to be better with each game,” Briggs said.

The soccer team’s first league game is at 4 p.m. today at Paly.