Improving Every Day

New Marco Island Academy girls soccer coach Kevin Ray is all in. He’s the school’s dean of students who has stepped in to coach the team at the eleventh hour. But Ray’s not about making excuses. He’s rolling up his sleeves and leading his young team with a combination of unbridled enthusiasm and a strong belief in steady improvement. On Wednesday, December 3, the Rays fell at home, 3-1 to Village School, despite a second half rally that came up just short before a Knights goal with :30 left that ended the scoring. The Rays dropped another squeaker on Friday when they traveled to Community School and dropped a 1-0 decision.

“The girls are buying in,” Ray said, "and they're getting better every single day. I love these kiddos. We've got great senior leadership on the team. We're starting to gel and really come together. We're building a program, and we're doing it one day at a time. And I could not be more proud of the effort, even though losing stings a little bit. Our focus is getting better day to day. And it's evident we're getting better every day."

Village School jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but the Rays staged a comeback after a water break at the 15-minute mark of the second half. Senior captain Gracie Johnson, in her second game back from injury, scored from close in, then freshman Isla Ray’s potential game-timing 20-yard kick banged off the goalpost with about eight minutes left. It was arguably the most powerful kick of the night.

“They responded,” Ray said. “We had a sense of urgency. We're trying to build that consistently throughout the game. And obviously, that's a challenge sometimes when you're not under a lot of pressure. But they respond in pressure. We're working toward just playing at that level the whole game."

Ray is building his team for the future.

“We’re a really young team,” he said. "It's not an excuse. We're a young, inexperienced team that's starting to come together. And I couldn't be more proud of what we're doing. I've just got to keep them focused and locked in, and I think they're going to get hungrier each game. I give a ton of credit to captains Gracie Johnson, Megan Donaldson, and Brinley Heflin. And Aubrey Guidry is the other senior that starts for us. They're a fantastic group. Taking over a program and having the leadership we've got, you're blessed when you get that. I couldn't be more proud of the girls and what they're putting together.”

For his part, Ray is enjoying the opportunity to return to his coaching roots.

"I'm a coach at heart,” he said. “That was my career before I went into a deeper level of education. I was a college football coach. I was a college and high school football coach. Coaching was what I was before I was anything else. It's a lot of fun to kind of get back to old me a little bit. It definitely feels good. It’s different coaching the young ladies. But I'll tell you what, I think I'd probably choose to be a women's coach before I choose to coach the men in anything ever again, because these ladies are responding and they're putting in the work. And I could not be more proud of the foundation we're building for the future. It's been fun. We're working hard together. I hope they know how much I actually care about them individually. The goal is the team above me. Everything's about the team over you. No one's more important than the team. No one makes decisions that could impact the team negatively. We should just continue to focus on day-to-day improvement. If you watched this from the first game to now, it's evident we're on the march. We're getting better.”

Ray can’t wait for his team to reap the rewards of their hard work, especially when the Paradise Coast Athletic Conference and district tournaments roll around in January. The Rays are currently 2-6-1.

“As much as we love these kids,” Ray said, "we want them to have that taste of victory when you know they gave everything they had on the field. Unfortunately, it didn't fall in our favor tonight. It wasn’t for lack of effort. It wasn't for lack of intensity. We play a very physical game, which I'm proud of the girls adopting. That's one of my beliefs, to play a physical game. But we have to focus individually, position by position, and get better and become more uniform than we've been. And I think if we can pull that off, we're going to have some good wins come January."

Ray believes his dual role as an administrator and coach works at a smaller school like MIA.

“One of the things that we have working in our favor here is that we are small,” he said. “You get those relationships with the parents, with the community, with the kids. It's maybe a little different if an administrator is a coach. But the expectation stays the same. I want everything you have every day when you show up. I want it in the classroom. I want it in the hallways when you're making decisions. I want it on the field. For us, as a school, I think we're starting to put together some really good coaches to continue to develop our sports programs. I'm excited about what the future's going to look like when more teams invest themselves into the weight room. What we've got here is a facility that the community helped us establish. The future is bright across the board for the sports programs.”

After away games at Neumann and Donahue Catholic, the Rays return home for a 7:00 PM game with Southwest Florida Christian on January 12.