Girls Soccer Coach of the Year: Waynesboro's Brian Fisher
Waynesboro girls soccer coach Brian Fisher is not the kind of coach who likes to set specific goals for his team.
"We don't really set goals; it's more about the process," Fisher said. "We strive for perfection, and ask the girls to do their jobs."
After a very good regular season, the Maidens played what Fisher described as "a perfect first half" in a District 3 Class AAA play-in game against Dover. Unfortunately, Waynesboro couldn't finish the game the same way and was defeated in penalty kicks by the Eagles.
But that doesn't take away the accomplishments of the Maidens and Fisher, who is the Public Opinion Coach of the Year.
Waynesboro finished with a record of 12-4-2, taking second behind Boiling Springs in the Mid Penn Colonial Division, in Fisher's fourth season at the helm.
"My first year, we were 3-13 the year before," Fisher said. "This year was the best group of girls I've had. They were very coachable, they were completely focused on what they were doing and they were smart. I think of the 30 kids on the team, we have 22 with a GPA of 3.5 or higher and a lot of them are at 4.0 or better.
"We're graduating 10 seniors and it looks like at least four of them will be playing in college. That's pretty awesome."
Fisher and his wife Laurie have a 2-year-old son, Hudson. He says family is his biggest interest, other than when he's "eating, sleeping and coaching soccer" during the season.
After playing varsity soccer for four years at Penn Hills in the Pittsburgh area, Fisher played in college for two years at PSU-Behrend before transferring to Penn State main campus, where he played on a club team. He was a boys assistant coach at Waynesboro for five years before he took over as the girls head coach.
"I think the girls set some high goals for themselves this year, and they competed very hard," Fisher said. "Beating Greencastle twice (1-0 both times) was a highlight because it's always hard to beat them and we know they'll be competitive games. Winning the Chambersburg tournament was pretty cool, too."
Fisher is aware that the loss of 10 seniors, at least seven of whom were starters, will bring some change for next year.
"This is the biggest class we'll have lost, so it'll definitely be a rebuilding year next fall," Fisher said. "We just have to hope that the girls who didn't get a lot of playing time this year will be able to step up into those positions."
They may not be perfect, but that's the direction Fisher will try to push them.