Piedmont Exedra (https://piedmontexedra.com/2024/11/russell-takes-over-piedmont-boys-soccer)
Harper Mand (55), Bosco Lorin (50), Nikolas Markopoulos (22), and Jacques Saldanha (44) at Berkeley on Jan. 3, 2023 (Photo by Scott Stratman.)
Piedmont High School’s boys soccer team welcomes a new coach this season, although Ben Russell is certainly familiar with Piedmont. Russell has been working with the Piedmont Soccer Club youth program for nine years. He also has coached the Highlanders junior varsity girls.
The native of England replaces Todd Sullivan, who coached Piedmont to back-to-back North Coast Section Division 4 championships in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years.
“It has been great to see the success Piedmont has had, such a small school, the way it has established itself,” Russell said. Try to grow the development of the program not just this year but in the future.”
Russell said he has a master’s degree in performance football coaching. He grew up in East Sussex where he played soccer. “I knew I wasn’t going to make it at the professional level and went in on the academic and coaching side,” he said.
He worked in Canada and the Pacific Northwest but returned to England. He moved for the Piedmont Soccer Club job in 2015. Russell said every team is different and he doesn’t necessarily have a tactical style. Things can even switch game-to-game.
“I think every team is different just as every person and every game is different,” he said. “Tactics are going to adjust for that. The main thing I want us to be is problem-solvers.” He added that there’s something special about the high school version of the game. “High school is fun because it’s midweek under the lights,” Russell said.
The Highlanders are coming off an 11-3-3 season in 2023-24. Because of their previous success, they were bumped up to Division 3 where they won their playoff opener 6-1 over Novato before falling to eventual runner up Archie Williams, 3-1.
Top returners include senior striker Gianluca Bini, senior midfielder Jacques Saldanha, and senior goalkeeper Lucas Malecki. Senior midfielder Bosco Lorin is another.
Freshmen Russell Pan and Eli Dao-Hoang will bring some new blood to the roster.
Russell said he expects the top teams in the West Alameda County Conference to be the same ones. “Traditionally the same teams are going to be the heavy hitters in our league,” he said. “Berkeley, the size that it is, has a great pool of students. (Bishop) O’Dowd is always good. Alameda is a recent rivalry.”
The Exedra comments section is an essential part of the site. The goal of our comments policy is to help ensure it is a vibrant yet civil space. To participate, we ask that Exedra commenters please provide a first and last name. Please note that comments expressing congratulations or condolences may be published without full names. (View our full Comments Policy.)
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
The Piedmont Exedra is a free, hyperlocal, independent news site created by a group of Piedmont citizens and launched in November 2018.
© Copyright 2024, Piedmont Exedra
Built with the Largo WordPress Theme from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Back to top ↑
