The area will be without a longtime familiar soccer name this fall.

Dave Saxe will no longer be patrolling the Souhegan High School boys soccer sidelines, opting to retire from the school and coaching after 27 years.

In his place, noted club soccer coach Elvis Zukovic will take over the program.

“There are a bunch of things I already miss,” said Saxe, who guided the Sabers to two titles, in 1996 and 2015. ” But the same amount of things that were pretty difficult and time consuming, and there was so much time spent away from family. … Definitely time to let it go, turn it over to a younger generation.”

Saxe has meant everything to Souhegan soccer. He is a former Coach of the Year who is also in the NH Soccer Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Zukovic had hoped Saxe would coach one more season and he’d work with him this fall to make it a smoother transition, but evidently the timetable got moved up.

“However, I jumped into this head first, very last minute,” Zukovic said. “In my opinion, and opinion of some other coaches I highly respect, Dave was one of the best coaches in the region, and a legend, and it will be hard to fill his shoes.”

Zukovic said he has a long-term vision for the program — another state title and a move up a level. “My eye,” he said, “is on the state championship with the final goal of D1. Of course this will not happen overnight, but we will give it our all over the next several years.”

Which is exactly what Dave Saxe did.