JAMESTOWN — Coming off a fourth-place finish in the state, the Jamestown High School boys’ soccer team heads into this year with lots of experience and a renewed energy to improve on last year. “Our expectations this season is to continue to build on the success that we had last year and to keep getting better every single game and every practice,” Blue Jays head coach Brandi Harty said. Last year, the Blue Jays made it to the NDHSAA Boys Soccer State Tournament as the No.
2 seed from the WDA and lost 1-0 to eventual state champions Fargo Shanley in the semifinals before losing to Minot 3-2 in the third-place game. Harty said the team started practicing on Aug. 5 in preparation for their season opener at 7:30 p.
m. on Friday, Aug. 16, against Mandan.
“The boys this year, they’ve brought a level of intensity that is very different than the past two years,” Harty said. “So practice is really productive and it’s really really fun to coach. It’s a great atmosphere right now.
It’s fun to see once we start games what they can do with the level of play that they’ve been bringing in practice.” ADVERTISEMENT The Blue Jays will have to replace the team’s top goal scorer from last year, Connor Traut, who has moved on to play for the UJ men’s soccer team. One player who will be expected to fill that void is Iddi Ramadhani, who finished with seven goals and six assists for 13 points.
“A lot because I’m one of the few players on the team that scores most of the time,” Ramadahani said about being looked at to score for his team. “I try my best.” Harty said she has 35 kids playing on the team this year.
Harty said they return all but three players from last year’s roster. “It definitely makes me feel good because we had so much success last year and all of them experienced it because majority of the roster is returners, pretty much all of them,” Harty said.” So having that experience and going through that helps.
It definitely makes me feel better as a coach knowing that they’re confident in the way that they played and are going to play, that we can keep moving forward and ...
building up what we’ve done already.” Harty said her team will use two different formations this year, a 4-3-3 and a 3-5-2. “We’re looking to change to a different formation and so that just changes the way we have players playing,” So, for example, Ian Lere and John Belzer, they played in our back line last year and they’re gonna continue playing in our back line but we’re asking them to be more aggressive into the attack so their role is gonna be different than it was last year with the formation.
We’re asking wingers like, for example, Jake Anderson and Jackson Steele to be more of an offensive-minded player. Obviously they’re still gonna have to play defense but we’re asking them to be more aggressive in front of the net and willing to look to be productive that way versus last year where they would sit a little bit more and be more defensive minded at times.” The Western Dakota Association announced that there won't be a WDA Tournament to end the season this year.
Instead, the top four teams by standings will make the 2024 NDHSAA State Tournament. “I’m excited because every game means something,” Harty said. “Yes, the tournament brings a lot of excitement, teams get chances, they get the opportunity to go to state but it wasn’t really a true tournament.
It was that single elimination so it was kind of tough for those three, four and five-seeded teams to play in. One and two had that automatic bid back when we had the tournament, that was a luxury when you finished in the top two you could go but now it’s the top four, I’m excited to see what the WDA will bring every single game.” ADVERTISEMENT This season, the Blue Jays will continue to share a player with the Jays football team as Brady Harty will get the call to kick for the football team.
In order to help her son balance both sports, Harty said communication will be key between her, Brady and Blue Jays head football coach Bill Nelson. Last year the Blue Jays went 2-0 against their season-opening opponent, Mandan, outscoring the Braves 9-1. “One of the things Mandan typically likes to do is they like to play very direct,” Harty said.
“So they’ll serve the ball long, if the ball is ever received they go long, try to get into the attack right away. We’ve been adjusting and dealing with aerial balls and things like that. They’re also a very physical team so we need to be prepared physically for a battle because that is what happens when you play Mandan.
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