Ithaca girls soccer aims to bounce back under new coach

With the Section IV soccer season kicking off this week, there’s plenty of excitement in the air for the teams in Tompkins County. For the Ithaca High School girls soccer team, the level of enthusiasm is at its highest in a while.

While the Little Red are coming off a 3-8-2 season and finished at the bottom of the STAC West Division, there’s a renewed sense of hope heading into this campaign with new head coach DJ Roberts leading the charge. Roberts was the junior varsity coach for the previous two seasons and was the modified coach before then, so his prior experience with most of the squad already sets them up for success.

“Coaching is my passion,” Roberts said. “I envision coaching at the collegiate or professional level at some point in the future. I couldn’t shy away from it, so when the opportunity came it was just a beautiful moment for me. Ninety percent of the players that are on the varsity team I’ve had on modified and JV.”

Roberts is a true staple of the Ithaca soccer community. He founded the Ithaca Premier Soccer League in 2021 as well as his own developmental initiative called Dado’s Developmental Program (DDP). When Roberts started coaching in Ithaca, he noticed that the surrounding areas of Binghamton and Syracuse were pulling all of the talent away from the city. His heavy involvement in the local soccer scene is certainly helping buck that trend.

“I want to create that culture here where we’re pulling players from these places to come to Ithaca to play at the club level,” Roberts said. “They know that we have that level here because we have the players. We send them everywhere… The ultimate goal is to build a sustainable program with top-level athletes to compete and they can stay at home. That will be a huge help to parents, as well.”

With the Little Red, Roberts will look to establish a winning culture for years to come. He’s already laid out what style his team will play this season.

“I feel like I need to impose a more attacking tactical idea on the team, because we do have the talent,” Roberts said. “It’s just now creating that sort of chemistry to make that talent work. We’re gonna play attacking football. We’re gonna do the best we can in that area, but we won’t sit back and go through the motions. I also want to create a great team culture, because it’s not [just] going to take the 11 players on a pitch to win us anything at all. I want to be able to go to the bench with confidence.”

Roberts’ philosophy should be the perfect fit for key returner Anna Kotaska. The senior forward is one of just two STAC All-Stars who are back for another season. Roberts has high praise for Kotaska for her remarkable work ethic both on and off the pitch. 

“She is an amazing leader,” Roberts said. “[In the] postseason, she organizes everything for the players. She’s organizing. pick up. She’s scheduling turf time. She’s convincing players to go into the weight room. She’s on top of the team’s social media. She is just a natural born leader. She puts in so much work. There’s no doubting her ability to lead a team, and I will rely on her a lot this season.”

Roberts continued: “As for playing, she’s a player that plays 1,000% at a time. There’s no giving her a break. She’s also a player that needs one or two instructions and she’ll be phenomenal. You don’t need to overload her with all these complicated explanations. She will be pivotal for us this season.”

The other returning STAC All-Star is junior Phoebe Colvin. While the junior was deployed mainly as a defender last season, Roberts expects her to occasionally play in a more advanced role this time around. 

“She also embodies leadership,” Roberts said. “She has this contagious vibe around her where people just flock to her. She’s all positive and energetic. I’m also exploring trying her in new roles because of her technical ability. She is one of our more versatile players who can play multiple positions. I’m looking to have Phoebe higher up in the front line at times as well as playing in the back, because she’s probably the best 1v1 defender that I’ve seen at this age.”

With Roberts’ wealth of coaching experience, he knows exactly what it will take from the Little Red to have a turnaround campaign.

“We’re looking for high possession and numerical advantage and high pressure right that those are the rules for our team. Everything else will come. Everything else will fall into place… If we can do that and do the simple things well, we’ll be successful this season.”

The Little Red open up their season on September 1 at home against Union-Endicott.