FLN has asked new Head Coach Doug Shanahan of St. Brendan High School in Miami to continue to share his thoughts on how he is building his new program through what is now their second season and Doug has graciously agreed to do so. Here is his latest submission! We thank Doug for taking the time to do this and letting our readers experience this unique insight.   In the week and a half since my last write up, we, yet again, find ourselves at .500 with a record a 3-3. We are 1 win away from matching last year’s total, all positive signs that we are improving as a program. The boys really fought hard on Tuesday 2/22 when we traveled the long distance to Lely in Naples. We were suffering an emotional hang over after a very disappointing home loss the day before to Miami Killian, where we did everything humanly possible to lose the game, from scoring on ourselves to 18 minutes of penalties.  All back breakers resulting in a 17-15 loss. We were down 7-2 to Lely at the half, I challenged the boys to rise up and overcome the deficit to prevail. They did so and we ended up winning 12-9. This did wonders for our confidence. It was the largest deficit that we have ever overcome as a team in our 2 year history.  We are getting better as a team, but Carlos Clavijo is putting together a stellar season averaging 6 goals a game thus far and has carried us at times.  In the Killian game in put 10 goals on the board.                On Friday 2/26 we played our most complete game, against Florida Christian which, after the week that we had of travel, 3 games and some nagging injuries, was a delight. We are getting stronger in will and mind. I am pleased with most of our progress.  We are looking forward to 3 more games in week 6 of the season: Columbus, Westminster, and John Carroll. On a side note, with these 3 wins this year, I find my overall coaching record with regards to High School coaching at 99 wins since 2006 where I started coaching at Glenbrook South in Illinois. Just a milestone victory away from 100.  Hopefully this week will see me surpass that number! (Author’s Note – good luck to Doug this week on the milestone!)