When the Wildcat soccer team begins preseason play this week, they’ll have Myles Osborn, goalkeeper for the Classic League champions, defending the net. Myles played this year for the Texas Longhorns Ayses 92, where he enjoyed winning first place in the regular season and taking second in Premier League play. Ozzie, as his teammates call him, also got to play in the prestigious Disney Tournament in Florida over Christmas, facing some of the finest teen players in the country. Most of the teams he’ll see as a Wildcat are peppered with boys he’s played with or against for many years.

Myles’ game day ritual includes eating fast food (“It’s bad for me, I know”) and listening to Angels and Airwaves on his ipod. Above all, he makes sure to wear his socks inside out every time he competes. “I did it before a tournament in Austin when I was in junior high, and we didn’t get scored on the entire weekend.”

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His biggest role model in life is his dad, he told me, but on the field he admires Pepe Reyna, goalkeeper for Liverpool. “I watch him on TV – he’s a great goalie.” Myles also gives credit to older brother Preston, former Wildcat defender and now a junior at SMU, for showing him the finer points of the game. “He gives me advice and I try to rival what he’s done. He’s pretty cool – I’d like to be as good as he is.”

Myles is specific about his plans for the team. “We haven’t won a playoff game since the Wildcats went to the state finals in 2003, so my goal is to win in the playoffs and make it to the regional finals at least. I know we are good enough to do that. I’ve played with these guys my whole life and we work really well together. Add in the ‘Sophomore Four’ (Mason Miller, Murphy Short, Joel Mendoza and Reagan Dunk, who started as freshmen last year) and we can really do some things this year.”

Although District 9-5A isn’t terribly strong, the Cats will face some tough opponents in tournament and preseason play. “I’d really like to beat Jesuit,” Myles says about the team he expects to face in round two of the Jesuit Meinster Tournament January 8. “Last year we came so close” (the Cats lost 1-0 after Jesuit scored in the final moments). “It’s a revenge thing at this point.”

And Myles has a message for LH soccer fans. “We want everyone to come out and support us – especially the students,” he said. The varsity Wildcats play Mesquite Horn Tuesday in The Boneyard at 7 pm. The JV kicks off at 5:30.