Foothill star leads attack

Foothill boys soccer coach Andrew Risheg sat down with his assistant during the offseason, and the two kicked around some ideas for the Falcons’ lineup.

All of them prominently featured senior forward Rob Cowan.

“We knew that we had the opportunity to have the leading scorer in the league, and so we built everything kind of around that idea,” Risheg said. “We’re definitely in an attack mode this year. We know we’ve got some guys that can score goals, and so we’re going to go after it.”

Thanks to an unconventional formation that gives Cowan freedom to roam up front, the offensive-minded Falcons have gotten off to a hot start and are scoring goals at an impressive rate.

Cowan leads Southern Nevada with 12 goals in six games, and the Falcons (5-1) are averaging 4.5 goals per game.

“We go into every game knowing we’re going to get at least three goals. I mean, that’s the plan; we play in a great league,” Cowan said. “And so, it’s kind of fun to watch the chaos that we cause to the other team’s defense. There’s a lot of room for opportunities.”

Foothill utilizes a 3-4-3 formation, with three defenders instead of the four that most high school teams use. Cowan is joined by fellow seniors Jackson Dietrich and Mason Reid in the attack, and the three have proven to be difficult to stop.

Cowan has scored in every game this season, including a hat trick against Arbor View in the opener and a five-goal outburst in a 12-1 victory against Silverado on Sept. 3. It was Cowan’s second career five-goal game, with the other coming against Boulder City last season.

Dietrich has added nine goals, tied for third in the area, and Reid has collected eight assists for the Falcons, whose only loss was a 2-1 setback against defending Division I-A state champion Tech in the final of the Southern Nevada Kick-Off Classic.

“The overriding goal is for the team,” said Risheg, who is in his eighth season, “and these guys have done a good job of, even though Robby’s our target player up front, they’ve been able to work together as a group and obviously created a ton of goals.”

Cowan had a breakout junior season with 25 goals and 10 assists and was an All-Southern Nevada selection as he helped the Falcons to the Southeast League’s No. 3 seed for the Division I Sunrise Region tournament. But Cowan’s exploits were largely overshadowed by Liberty’s Danny Musovski, who shattered the state scoring record with 58 goals.

With Musovski now playing at UNLV, Cowan is expected to be the focal point of Southeast League defenses.

“My goal is to improve on the amount of goals I had last year,” Cowan said. “If some kid wants to score 60 or 70 goals, that’s not going to affect me. I scored 25 last year, and I wanted to get at least 30, 35 this year. Just set the bar a little higher for myself.”

With Cowan leading the way, the Falcons are expected to contend for the Southeast League title with defending Division I state champion Eldorado, Coronado and Green Valley.

Cowan is being heavily recruited by Menlo College in Northern California, and Risheg said he compares favorably with former Foothill standout Christian Volesky, who is a senior at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville after starting his college career at Denver.

“Robby’s got the nose (for goal),” Risheg said. “He’s not afraid to shoot the ball. He can be deceptively quick, and he’s got great foot skills. He’s got all the little pieces it takes to be a good forward.”

Contact reporter David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidSchoenLVRJ.