The Eisenhower Knights boys soccer team will look to go deeper in the playoffs this season under first-year coach Mike Taylor, who brings a wealth of experience with him to the Knights.

His resume includes: two years as a youth coach at Weat Park Rugby Club in St. Helens, England; seven years as a head coach at Olympic Heights High School in Boca Raton, Florida; and one year as an assistant at Eisenhower.

Taylor said his biggest losses from last year’s Knights’ team are Austin Guiher, Austin Hannold and Caleb McMillen, but he hopes that it will be offset by returning players Logan Degnan, Abe Wolf, Bryceton Wilkins, Case Seymour, Derek Guiher, Tommy Jukes, Jayce Lang, Drew Mandeville, David Abadie and Michael Mizner.

“We would like to win a game on artificial turf,” Taylor said. “To make that happen we need more players to score and to keep going in tough games, and to possess a never-say-die attitude.

“We have eight freshmen on the squad this year, and they all are working hard and fitting in,” Taylor said. “Rever Caudill and Mason Degnan, in particular, are looking good and should push for some varsity playing time.”

Other freshmen include Ayden Stiteler, Sol Wolf, Isaiah Reagle, Matthew Ruttkowski, Michael Rutsky and Keaton Destro.

“In the past, Eisenhower has always had a team with good fighting spirit and a positive attitude. This year we hope to add consistency and more goal threats to the foundation left by Coach Venman. I want us to have a reputation as a hard-running team that will not back down from any opponent we face.