When the girls’ varsity soccer programs from Edward Little and Lewiston went searching for new head coaches recently, neither program had to look far.

Both teams have hired assistant coaches from within to fulfill the head coaching openings. Craig Latuscha has been named the new girls’ coach at EL while Butch Dow has taken the helm at Lewiston. Both have been with the soccer programs at their respective schools for quite a few years.

Latuscha was the boys’ JV coach and David Morin’s assistant. When Val Ackley stepped down this offseason, Latuscha saw the opportunity for a new challenge.

“I’ve been with the boys’ program for eight years,” said Latuscha, who is also the boys’ hockey coach at EL. “I saw an opportunity and a chance to coach the girls’ team. So I applied and took my chances. Thankfully, they gave me the job. I’m very excited about it.”

When Ackley took a year off in the fall of 2008, Latuscha contemplated making the change to the girls’ program then, but knowing it was likely just a one-year stint, he chose to remain with the boys’ team. Now he feels the time is right for a new challenge. Though he’ll be coaching girls instead of boys, he said he knows the program and the girls.

“I thought this was a step in the right direction,” said Latuscha, who’s also a teacher at EL. “Girls are a little different, obviously, than boys, but it’s still the game of soccer. I’m really excited with this group of girls.”

The EL girls finished 6-6-2 last fall and lost in the Eastern A quarterfinals to Brunswick. The Red Eddies lost a significant number of seniors from that club, including key members of the defense.

“I definitely wanted to take that challenge,” said Latuscha. “The girls have had great coaches the last couple of years. I’ve been learning from the best, Dave Morin. I’ve learned a lot from him that I hope to bring to the girls’ program.”

Latuscha is hoping to have five or six games this summer that will help the girls get acclimated with a new coach.

“We’re going to be young.” he said. “We graduated a lot of seniors. We lost a pretty good goaltender in Kirsten Prue, but I think we’re going to be young and talented, and we should be competitive.”

At Lewiston, Dow has been active with both programs over the last decade or more. He’s been the goalie coach and worked with the girls’ team the last five or six years. When Steve Corson stepped down after two seasons, Dow saw it as a good opportunity for him.

“I just thought it was a good time,” said Dow, who has also been an assistant with the Bates soccer program and the Lewiston girls’ lacrosse team. “The girls like the motivation that I give them. So I just thought it was a good time after Steve stepped down.”

When Dow contemplated applying for the job, he consulted with the girls. He wanted to gauge their level of support for him as their new coach. They subsequently started a Facebook page “Coach Butch for L.H.S Varsity Soccer.” The page already has well over 100 fans.

“That wasn’t the kind of support I was (expecting), but I was really taken aback by some of the alumni that commented on there and wrote letters of support and thanks for me,” said Dow. “It was really heartfelt. Knowing that I had the support of so many alumni made me feel like I was ready for this position.”

One problem that arose was the possibility of losing Dow as a goaltender coach for both programs. That’s a hefty workload if he’s running a varsity program in addition to tutoring keepers.

“I think I’m the only goalkeeper coach on the high school level that works strictly with the goalkeepers,” said Dow. “They were worried that they might lose that, but I’ll be doing extra duty to work with goalies from both programs.”

Lewiston has been competitive the last few seasons but been under .500. It has been four years since Lewiston made the playoffs. Dow hopes to take the program to the next level. He’s expecting to establish a solid defensive team and improve the Blue Devils’ standing in Eastern A.

“I’m hoping to bring them to a higher level of play,” he said. “I think I’m up to that challenge. I’m looking forward to doing that.”

Lewiston graduated a half dozen veteran players and the numbers are low, but Dow is excited about building up the program and fielding a competitive club. His first summer soccer session was scheduled for Thursday night, and he’s got three games lined up and hoping to schedule a few more. Being a late hire, it has put him behind in trying to schedule summer games, but he’s actively pursuing teams that might want to schedule games.

“I plan on having fun,” said Dow. “A lot of my coaching philosophy comes from Paul Nadeau when he was coaching Lewiston. I believe that his tactics worked tremendously. He was a very good motivator and brought things to his athletes that they could use later in life.”

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