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Offensive exodus not fazing Hendersonville soccer despite scoreless start




Hendersonville’s Sonny French (4) fights off a Valor defender in the box. By Michael Giglio

Given the circumstances, things could be a lot worse for Hendersonville soccer through the first two games of its season. 

The Commandos graduated eight seniors from a spring that concluded with a district and region championship. They lost more than 47 goals and 50 assists from their record-setting offense. 

Top that off with the injury of their top returning offensive piece – senior Nelson Sandoval, who recorded 12 goals and eight assists last year but tore his ACL prior to the start of the season – and Hendersonville’s start could have gone much worse than a pair of draws. 

To head coach Alex Tummons, things could be much better, too. 

The Commandos (0-0-2) opened the year with a scoreless draw at Division II-AA runner-up Father Ryan, then followed it with the same result Friday against Class AA runner-up Valor College Prep in Murfreesboro’s Meet Me in the Middle tournament. 

“We’re very young and very inexperienced, so I’m very happy with defensively getting no goals scored on us,” Tummons said. “At the same time, offensively we’re creating chances; we’re just not finishing them for whatever reason.”

Hendersonville dominated possession and opportunities against Valor. In the second half alone they totaled four corner kicks and nine shots on goal, none of which connected with the back of the net. 

Tummons said the play of Valor goalkeeper Mitch York limited some of their chances, but a majority of their missed shots was the result of a young offense still learning its system.

“Even our upperclassmen are inexperienced, so it’s just going to take some time to jell and maybe grow together,” he said. “Each team’s different. That’s my job as a coach to figure out what works and what doesn’t”

The shots haven’t connected quite yet, but the team’s shutout defense against two state finalists has kept Hendersonville undefeated to start the year. 

“Defensively, I think we’ve been very organized. We’ve communicated a lot,” said senior defender Colin Miller. “I think that we trust each other a lot, and I think that’s huge for us.”

Miller admitted that the Commandos at times have searched for stars of the last four years to make plays.

Gone from last season’s team are TSWA all-state forward William Becker (27 goals, 14 assists), senior Parker Tighe (12 goals, 15 assists) and Sumner County Midfielder of the Year Christian Kernell (eight goals, 21 assists).

As Hendersonville closed out its tournament trip against DII-AA champion Baylor – and looked forward to beginning its district championship defense in April – Tummons and Miller felt an offensive awakening was simply a matter of time. 

“We’re creating the chances. Especially in these first two games, I feel like we’ve pretty much dominated possession, dominated the game, controlled the game,” Miller said. 

“In these first two games we’ve gotten a lot of chances and we’ve created the opportunities. Now it really just comes down to finishing. I’ve got faith in our guys, and I know we’re getting those chances and we’ll score them eventually.”