While the Ridgeview boys soccer team had a breakthrough season in 2016, they know repeat success will be a challenge with only five varsity players expected back.

So the Ravens are spending much of the summer working on getting better.

While some took off around the July Fourth holiday, many Ridgeview players were on the pitch for a July 5 workout at the school. They are coming off an appearance in the June 23-25 Capital Cup tournament in Salem, where Ridgeview reached the semifinals of its division.

The Ravens fell 1-0 against the Hermiston Heat, which went on to win the silver division.

“This year, a lot of the players were out of town or on vacation,” Ravens coach Jimmy Kim said. “But the group that went had moments where it was like, bring on the season.”

The team brought some of the graduated seniors from last season’s first Ridgeview playoff team to Salem, where they made their final appearances in Raven purple. Along with departed seniors like Joey Brant and Kirk Trammell, who will both continue playing at the College of Idaho, Ridgeview had some unexpected losses with two players moving out of town with their families and another having academic issues, Kim said.

“With the unexpected losses, they’re going to have to fill bigger roles,” Kim said of those who will be back. “They’re going to have to carry a little more on their shoulders and do a little more than what we expected at the end of last year.”

Luckily for Ridgeview, first-team all-Intermountain Conference goalkeeper Alex Nadermann is back for his senior year. Also back are center backs Nick Nelson, a second-team all-league pick as a junior, and junior Isaac Grusy. Junior midfielder Cade O’Neill and junior midfielder Christian Kim also return.

“I think there’s still work to do,” said Christian Kim, the son of the coach. “We lost 10 seniors. Maybe we’re a little more behind, but, with enough work, we’ll be back.”

The younger players on the team will have to step up their play to fill in the gaps, Christian Kim said.

Junior left back Ethan Hicks is among the new varsity players looking to make his mark. He wants to see players learn to do more as a team instead of trying to do too much by themselves.

“I feel like we could be pretty good this year,” he said. “We could make it to the playoffs again if we pass more and get people open.”

The Ravens hope to play one more tournament before the season — the Aug. 4-6 Mt. Hood Challenge in Portland, Jimmy Kim said. That one will be without the graduated seniors.

“It gets us in the mode to play with the team that’s going to play the fall season,” he said. “You see what we can fine tune in the short amount of time before the season starts.”

— Reporter: 541-548-2186, gfolsom@redmondspokesman.com