Coaches Corner: Sioux City North boys soccer looks forward to the challenge of the postseason

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - The high school soccer postseason continues on Monday with more teams jumping into action, and one team hoping to make a run to state this season is the Sioux City North Stars.

The Stars have a roster full of plenty of upperclassmen, as well as a head coach who has deep roots himself at Sioux City North. Head coach Ricardo Azpeitia attended North High School himself where he was also a member of the boys soccer team. The journey has led him from player, to assistant, to now head coach.

“For me, it’s one of those dreams. My dream was always to try to go and see if I could play a professional, but, you know, I played at the college level then I got done and the next step was coaching. And I love teaching the game so it makes me very happy just being part of North High School and the program,” said Coach Azpeitia.

Coach Azpeitia has been working with this team since many of them were in the seventh grade. This year’s crew consists of 12 seniors who are ready to give it their all in the postseason district rounds.

“I think everybody talks about the whole group picture, but I think we have really good senior group, and then some of the junior group is also a huge for us. So we have 12 seniors so it’s a very talented team that we have,” said coach Azpeitia.

The North Stars begin their postseason journey on Monday as they host Sioux City East. Coach Azpeitia says he’s reminding his team to play clean making as little mistakes as possible, as well as staying healthy.

“For us, it’s try to make less mistakes. Just keeping composed and just having our guys healthy. I think that’s the best thing that we can do. You know, we have two big teams that we have to face off before we get to the state tournament, which is East and Des Moines Valley probably,” said Azpeitia.

Coach Azpeitia joins KTIV’s Coaches Corner as he shares more on the strong season the Stars have had, and shares the special moments he’s been a part of as he’s watched some of his athletes grow from young players into senior leaders.

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