On March 31st, the Waterloo West High boys soccer team competed in their first opportunity to show off the work they have been putting in at practice and during the offseason, when they took on the Independence Mustangs in a jamboree game at Memorial Stadium. Although an unofficial game, it was the first competition of the year for the Wahawks. The Wahawks defeated the Mustangs 9-0 in this short one-half style jamboree game.
A big change for the Wahawks is their coaching staff, as this will be their third consecutive year with a new head coach. In the second half of the 2025-26 school year, Ethan Tursi was named the new head coach for the men’s soccer team. Tursi has been playing soccer since he was six years old and played throughout high school, even winning the state championship his senior year at Xavier High School. Following high school, Tursi moved to Cedar Falls as he attended the University of Northern Iowa, where he graduated with a degree in Kinesiology and Exercise Science.
During his time at UNI, he gained coaching experience as he was the assistant soccer coach for Hoover Middle School and interned at enVISION, which is a youth soccer club that also provides private training. At enVISION, Tursi learned how to build relationships with athletes as well as how to train them at a high level. Along with being the assistant coach for Hoover Middle School, he was also the Wahawks assistant coach for the 2024-25 season.
Josue Beya, a senior on the soccer team, shared his thoughts on the team’s first “win” of the season: “Coming out with a win at our home stadium made it more special. All the hard work that we had to go through paid off amazingly, and there is no better feeling than celebrating that with the people you’ve gone through a lot with.”
