Family goals

By Brent Hinckley

Friday, Aug. 22, 2008 | midnight

Brothers Ryan and Brett Teepen are once again sharing the sideline at Boulder City High.

Ryan Teepen, 25 is starting his second year as the Eagles’ girls soccer coach, while Brett Teepen, 23 is an assistant coach.

“Obviously Brett and I relate to each other well, and we have similar playing styles,” Ryan Teepen said. “Having him here will really help me out.”

Ryan Teepen graduated from Boulder City in 2002, while Brett graduated in 2004. They were high school teammates during the 2000 and 2001 fall seasons and college teammates in 2004 at the University of Mary in North Dakota.

“We grew up playing soccer together, so it’s not really surprising that now we’re coaching together,” Brett Teepen said. “It’s been a lot of fun so far, doing the summer camp and tryouts. I’m ready to see how the season goes.”

Ryan Teepen said the girls will be able to get more specialized coaching.

“It’s not going to be just me running around with so much going on,” Ryan Teepen said.

Expectations are high for the season with 11 returning players led by seniors midfielders Karis Barton, Christine Mader, defensemen Lindy Doyle, Sam Novoselek and junior goalie Jessi Forrester.

“We’ve been together for a couple of years now. We’re excited to play and get to state,” Barton said.

She said the team was ready to get past last year’s first round playoff loss. Boulder City was the No. 2 seed in the 3A Southern League tournament, but lost to No. 3 Pahrump Valley 3-1.

Ryan Teepen said it was tough to lose that game, but thinks the team is better for it.

“They got beat up playing against older, experienced girls. I think that motivated them to come here and not take practice for granted,” he said.

Novoselek said the loss taught them what to work on during the offseason.

“It helped us to know what to work on to get ready for this season,” she said. “We’re going to come out and be more aggressive and work hard to get to state.”

Sophomore Indiana Mead, who lead the team in scoring last year, opted not to return.

Mead played with the U.S. Junior National team in the offseason and decided to skip the high school season to focus on the more-competitive club ball.

“There’s more important things for girls high school soccer. It was a blessing to have had a player of that caliber,” Teepen said. “She made everyone better, and now we have to take what we learned from her.”

The Eagles open the season on Sept. 2 hosting Virgin Valley, then play at Faith Lutheran on Sept. 4.

“Virgin Valley is going to be an improved team this year,” Ryan Teepen said. “I think it’s going to come down to us and Faith, so we’ll just see who has the better team.”

Brent Hinckley is a reporter for the Home News. He can be reached at 948-2074 or [email protected].