2008-09 Girls Soccer Co-Coach of the Year: Troy's Ed Kephart

The 2008-2009 season for the Troy girls soccer team will be remembered as a year of firsts.

For the first time in school history, the team advanced to the CIF-SS Division III semifinals, where the Warriors earned a berth in the school’s first ever CIF championship game by slipping past Freeway League rival Fullerton in penalty kicks.

Once there, the Warriors claimed their first ever girls’ soccer title, defeating another Freeway League rival Sunny Hills in penalty kicks.

At the helm of this unprecedented run of success was first-year head coach Ed Kephart, who set a high standard for his team from the beginning of the season, instilling the discipline, resiliency, and hard work needed to help push the Warriors to new heights of accomplishments.

For his efforts, Kephart has been selected as the Register’s 2008-2009 co-coach of the year.

“Coming into this year, I knew that this team had done well last year, and I expected us to do well this season,” said Kephart.

Indeed, the Warriors were a team looking to build off their success from a season ago, when a county-best 22-game unbeaten streak helped spur them a share of the Freeway League title and a CIF-SS Division III quarterfinals appearance.

And the prospects of another strong season certainly appeared bright after Troy opened the season undefeated in 13 of their first 15 games.

But after a 2-1 loss to Fullerton on Jan 27 left them 1-2-2 and in fifth place in league, Kephart felt that his team needed a wake-up call.

“At that point I questioned everyone’s desire to be here,” he recalled. “The girls decided then that it was important to them to make a run at the playoffs and to work as hard as they possibly could.”

The Warriors went undefeated over the final five league matches to earn the third league seed into the playoffs. Once there, Troy won three consecutive one goal games before knocking off the Indians 4-2 via penalty kicks in the semifinals.

“It was a big deal for them to get past Fullerton,” remembered Kephart. “To have lost and tied with them during the season, but to beat them in semis was a great accomplishment.”

However, the Warriors final obstacle for the title was their biggest, as Sunny Hills stood between them and history. The Lancers were 1-0-1 in their previous meetings during the season with Troy, and were seeking their third CIF title in the past five years.

Undaunted, the Warriors hung tough with the Lancers throughout regulation and overtime. A thrilling shootout session saw the teams go back and forth before Troy emerged victorious 6-5.

Kephart acknowledged that the season was definitely one of high and lows, but that he learned a great deal.

“The season went through peaks and valleys,” he said. “Once we turned it around in the second half of the season and in the playoffs, I started to figure the girls out and understand their mentality.”

Even with the program’s achievements still sinking in, Kephart is already looking toward the future and helping the Warriors build off their championship winning season.

“This year it was easier to motivate ourselves because we were the underdogs and a lot people said that we shouldn’t be here,” he said. “Next year is going be different because we’re going to have a target on back and everyone is going to want to beat us, so the girls can’t have a sense of entitlement and will have to perform every day.”

Contact the writer: jeichelberger@ocregister.com