It’s certainly appropriate to call Warren Shaw a soccer lifer.

After playing college soccer at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, he’s had numerous coaching roles that have included stops at Bradford United, Floyd C. Fretz Middle School and at UPB. Now, he’s ready for his next challenge: Head coach of the Lady Owls varsity program.

Shaw, who served as a volunteer assistant for BHS last year, will be the third head coach in as many seasons for Bradford. Despite the turnover, Bradford has posted 19 wins over the past two campaigns, and expectations are ripe that the team can improve off of last year’s 9-9 mark.

“We have talent, but it’s a matter of building the depth,” Shaw said after Monday’s practice. “That’s what we’re doing right now is doing a good job of getting everybody playing time. My goal — all of our goal as coaches — is to be able to use 16-18 players again. Right now, I think we can. That could change, we want to be able to play a lot of players.”

Also helping Shaw and assistant coaches Jim Warnick and A.J. Lucas is that they’ve coached most of the girls at different levels of soccer, making the transition to another new head coach much smoother.

“The good part for us is that A.J. and I have been with them since they were six, seven years old,” Shaw said. “If you look across the board at most of these girls, they’ve all been there from the beginning. Leadership-wise, we’ve always been there for them.”

The Lady Owls return a strong core of four players (Regan Johnson, Mikayla Bond, Mackenzie Lucas and Chloe Shaw) that represented Pennsylvania in the Corporate Cup Soccer Showcase in May.

And, despite losing a talented crop of seniors, Shaw is confident that he has the personnel to power through a very challenging 2018 schedule.

“We are a good team. We are going to win games,” he said. “It’s going to come down to depth and having some other players step up.”
Bradford has already played in a pair of scrimmages over the last two Saturdays, and one thing has become clear to Shaw and his coaching staff: Freshmen will play a big role on this year’s team.

“The freshman class has come out here and just really kicked butt,” Shaw said. “They are really working hard. In fact, at Saturday’s scrimmage (against St. Marys) two freshmen started. The week before that was the same thing.”

Shaw says that he’s surprised himself with how much playing time he’s given the ninth-graders, but said that he can’t ignore their talented play on the pitch thus far.

“My first year as a coach one of the things I wanted to refrain from was playing them too early, “ he said. “But, they worked themselves on the field and you can’t keep them off. They are working hard and beating out upperclassmen out.”

When Bradford takes the field for its first regular season game on Friday at Ridgway, there will be plenty of experienced talent returning on the pitch, as well.

Lucas will get the start in net, Johnson will be the team’s top scoring threat, and Emily Bosworth and Chloe Shaw will make up the “spine” of the team, as Shaw calls it, in the midfield.

“The spine is where it’s at,” Shaw said. “We have a good spine, and as long as we stay healthy there we will be fine.”

“Bosworth is probably one of the most graceful players you’re ever going to find,” he added. “And she’s fast, which is one of those things you can’t coach.” Regan is going to be our scoring threat, and she’s got tremendous speed, as well.”

With few schools across District 9 fielding soccer teams this year, Bradford has been forced to search for schools around the state to fill its 18-game schedule.

Road games in September include trips to schools like Meadville, Hickory (Pittsburgh), McDowell (Erie) and Oil City. After that travel-heavy start to the season, the Lady Owls play five of their final seven games at home.

Although Shaw has an extensive soccer background, he isn’t all that interested in talking about formations or how he’ll strategize who plays where each week. Instead, he’ll mainly emphasize working hard and mixing in some fun as he begins his first head coaching experience.

“We’re going to have fun. We are going to make it interesting, I’ll put it that way. I think in the past there’s been too many quotes about possession, style of play and all that. This is more of a lunch-pail environment. Come watch us play, it’ll be interesting.”