By Nate Radomski for the JournalNews

HAMILTON — Entering his second year as head coach, Ted Ross knows that his Hamilton High boys soccer team has talent. He also knows it will take hard work for that talent to make a difference.

Although the Big Blue are coming off a 3-12-2 season in which they finished tied for last place with Middletown in the Greater Miami Conference, Ross has set his goals high for this season.

“They’ve had a year under me,” Ross said, “and we’re hoping to move forward this year.”

Ross is counting on a better season this time around, especially since Hamilton lost only four players from last year’s team. “This team has been kind of weak for a while now, but we only lost four seniors, so the team is pretty much intact,” he said.

The top returners squad are seniors Tyler Sexton, Thomas Hancock and Steve Asher, along with junior Matt Stewart.

Sexton and Stewart will guide the team as midfielders. Ross is looking for Asher and Hancock to do big things as defenders this season. Joining Sexton and Stewart as midfielders will be sophomores Tommy Mintrich-Weber and Matt Schevey.

The Big Blue hope to fix their biggest problem from last season — scoring.

“(We need to) generate some offense,” Ross said. “Last year, we had trouble scoring goals. That’s the biggest question in my mind.”

Ross said he hopes to score at least a couple goals a game, which could help the team move up in the league standings.

“I would like to finish mid-pack in the GMC this year,” he said, “with at least eight wins.”

As usual, Hamilton faces a challenging schedule.

“Fairfield and Badin are always big games for the kids,” Ross said, adding that with a new rivalry starting to ignite against Withrow, the first few weeks could be a strong indicator of the rest of the season.

Badin and Withrow are the third and fourth opponents of the season for the Big Blue, and Fairfield will come a week later on Sept. 13. Last season, Hamilton went 0-3 against those three teams and were outscored 11-0.

Ross said that for this season to be different, his defense must step up. “Defense has always been my main point of focus,” he said.

Hamilton kicks off its season at Winton Woods on Tuesday, Aug. 23.

View Article at HJN