Wayne Harrison, head coach of the Eden Prairie High School girls soccer team, doesn’t like conceding goals, any goals, ever.

This, in turn, is reflected in his coaching philosophy: “We’ll have a defensive start position rather than an offensive start position,” he said.

But don’t for a minute think he plans to pack the back and hope for that one mistake that turns the game on its side; no, he’s too aggressive for that, much too aggressive.

“We’re going to attack,” he said, “but the girls are going to have to recover back quickly.”

Lastly, he fully expects to keep the ball in the opponent’s end, for the whole game.

“That’s the plan,” he said.

To make all these things happen, Harrison expects/demands that his players be fit, fit enough so that they can run up and down the field for the full 80 minutes.

“We did and didn’t do that last weekend,” he said. “We played very well in a 5-1 victory over Cretin-Derham Hall, but than ran out of stream in a 1-1 draw to Woodbury.”

“They (Woodbury) beat us on the seventh penalty shot,” he adds. “But that’s OK, because officially, the game ends in a tie.”

So there you have it (again), Eden Prairie and Woodbury, two of the state’s best teams, open their respective campaigns by battling to a tie. So what does that mean?

“I’m not going to say we’re going to win the whole thing,” said Harrison, “but I’m thinking we’re going to have a good season.”

First things first

Reiterating what he said earlier, Harrison sees being fit as key to his team’s ability to defend. From there, he’s sees an ability to defend as key to his team’s success.

In short, you can’t have one without the other.

He adds he has no worries about his offense. “That’ll take care of itself,” he said.

When pressed, he mentions Taylor Uhl, last year’s leading goal scorer.

“She had a three on Friday,” he adds.

Offense is also expected out of Katie Thyken, Mikayla Clark and Aliena Krausert.

“All three have goals in them,” adds Harrison.

Lake matters

Keeper Ally Spicher lists beating Lakeville South as one of the team’s goals.

Harrison takes this one step further, adding that he’s yet to coach his Eagles to a Lake Conference title (he has, however, coached them to a state title).

“If winning the conference means a better seeding in the section tournament, I’m all for it,” adds Harrison.

Less Spicher, and Harrison, forget; Bloomington Jefferson and Eagan, two teams currently ranked in the top 10, play in the Lake Conference as well.

“I never said it was going to be easy,” adds Harrison.