- January 15, 2025
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Joe St. Onge coaches by a simple motto: Get better and have fun. Four years ago, the Riverview High girls varsity soccer head coach never imagined he’d be where he is on Jan. 6, standing in Ram Bowl stadium, watching his team as it prepares to defend its Class 7A-District 8 title in the district playoffs on Jan. 23.
St. Onge, a former Riverview soccer standout himself who played four years at Division 1 Mercer University, is a financial adviser by day and soccer coach by night.
When the head coaching job opened up four years ago, St. Onge, who’d coached at FC Sarasota in his off-time, was approached by Athletic Director Rod Dragash.
At first, St. Onge balked, thinking that he would be unable to hold practices after school since the stock market closes at 4 p.m. When he found out that he could practice with the team later in the evening, however, he was all in.
Ever since St. Onge stepped in as Head Coach in 2021, the Rams have been building themselves into a formidable presence in the region’s soccer scene.
In 2021, Riverview went 9-8-2, before bowing to Venice in the district playoffs. The same fate awaited the Rams in 2022, when they went 7-2-3, before losing 7-1 to North Port High in the district semifinal game.
Things changed, however, in the 2023-24 season. The team went 11-5-2 en route to winning the 7A-8 title, the program’s first in 18 years.
Junior striker Rachel Paule had a breakout campaign, scoring 15 goals. Sophomore Olivia Shkorupa emerged as a force, finishing second on the team with seven goals.
The team was led by six seniors, including defender and two-year captain Alyssa Gancitano, midfielder Venessa Huynh and midfielder Majestic Van Ingen. The departure of the seniors, St. Onge admitted, made him slightly skeptical heading into this year.
“We lost six seniors, five of whom were starters,” said St. Onge. “You think to yourself, how in the world are we going to replace that?”
The transition, so far, has been surprisingly seamless, said St. Onge. As of Jan. 9, Riverview is 9-2-1, with its only losses to perennial powerhouses Land O' Lakes Sunlake and Cape Coral Mariner. For what Riverview has lost in its departing seniors, it has gained in the maturation of its core players and the emergence of new faces.
This year’s senior class is headlined by strikers Paule and Bailey Springman, who lead the team in goals with nine and seven apiece. Through 12 games, Paule, who has started for all four years under St. Onge has already eclipsed her 2023-24 assist total of six with nine this season.
More than just her ability on the field, a rare combination of speed and touch, St. Onge credits Paule’s relentless drive as a key to her success. Not only can you not coach speed, St. Onge said, but you also cannot coach passion.
“I remember in her freshman year, there was a junior that Rachel was starting over and she asked me. ‘What do you see in Rachel?’ Why am I not getting the playing time that I did as a sophomore?” said St. Onge. “I told her that Rachel acts like she hasn’t eaten in a week and you just stole her sandwich. That’s how she plays and that’s how I played.”
Riverview’s offense is not just dominated by its two top strikers in Paule and Springman, however. Adding to the fire is junior midfielder Olivia Shkorupa, who has taken her game to another level this year, said St. Onge.
Shkorupa is the team’s third-leading scorer, with six goals to go along with four assists. Sophomore Emily Simone, who emerged as a force at center midfield halfway through her freshman season, has carried that momentum into 2025, with five goals and one assist thus far into the year.
Anchoring the Rams’ defense is a mix of upperclassmen and freshman. Senior center back Laci Young has been “the rock” of Riverview’s defense in the back end, said St. Onge. Fellow senior Lena Benz has blossomed into a critical defender at the behest of assistant coach Reggie Thomas, who joined the staff last season.
Thomas, who played professionally in Brazil, is in charge of Riverview’s tactical training and has been a massive addition to the team, said St. Onge.
“Lena had played a more attacking role her entire life,” said St. Onge. “When Reggie came in, he saw something in her and said she’d make a great right or left back, functioning in a more defensive role and she hasn’t looked back since. She’s probably the smallest player on our team, but she plays like a bulldog.”
St. Onge said freshmen Lyla Johnson, Avery Hunt and Sophia Oszlanczi have filled in valiantly for the departing seniors, helping to shore up a defense that has only allowed nine goals in 13 games.
Starting in goal for the Rams is sophomore Bronwyn Leggett. Leggett, nicknamed the “flying squirrel” by goalkeepers coach Sean Springman for her ability to make leaping saves, has been a stone wall in the net for Riverview this season.
As a freshman, Leggett started six games before suffering a nasty concussion which sidelined her for eight months.
Leggett, who plays an extremely aggressive style of goalkeeper, attacking defenders before they have the chance to get a shot off, has been even better in her second season.
Through 13 games, Leggett has allowed just eight goals, averaging a hair under five saves per match and recording six shutouts.
It’s a collection of talent on the roster and a group of coaches to help guide that talent, making St. Onge optimistic about the Rams’ chances in the district and state playoffs in the coming weeks.
