It’s that time of the year, as girl’s soccer returns to pitch with everyone coming for respect in the district.
Daviess County:
Daviess County girl’s soccer is looking to be a force in the district and region tournaments with a slew of players returning from the 2020 team.
Offensively the Lady Panthers return leading scorer Steeley Walker, as well as Shelby Sandifer and Reagan Chinn at the striker and midfield spots respectively.
Daviess County also returns Emma Patterson for her fourth straight year in goal, with Brooke Schwartz, Brooklyn Vincent, Maci Sanders and Maddie Barrow all returning to the defensive unit.
There is also a plethora of newcomers joining Daviess County, which Head Coach David Sandifer is excited about.
“Lillian Coombs is a very skilled freshman and we expect her to be a linchpin player in the midfield with the capability of scoring goals,” Sandifer said. “Allison Boswell, a junior, and Mia Griffith, Jessie Harwood, Bailey Porter Kiara Sexton, Liz Burgan, Jasey Stearsman and Mary Wesley Wiman are sophomores we expect to really step forward this year. Kate McCain and Molly Fuqua are freshmen we expect to give us good minutes and energy.”
Daviess County expects to be competitive when postseason soccer comes around, but a few things must be done for that to happen.
Sandifer said those key points they’ve focused on are tightening up defensively and making sure to be on the same page at each position on the field.
“We have to be organized defensively and keep the ball as much as possible,” Sandifer said. “We need to communicate better and counter attack whenever possible. We have worked hard to improve our fitness over last season.”
Owensboro:
Owensboro girl’s soccer team hopes to build on results from last season with a trio of seniors coming back to lead the charge.
Those seniors are Ella Bratcher, Evie Pierson and Abby Beck. Joining this strong trio is junior Chandler Worth and sophomore Sydney Lovett.
“Ella and Evie will be anchoring our midfield and producing goal scoring and Abby Beck will once again be a force defensively,” Head Coach Michael Lovett said. “Junior GK Chandler Worth will once again be one of the top GK’s in the region and has grown this past year due to playing year round. Sophomore Sydney Lovett will be our anchor at center back and is looking to expand upon her freshman year success.”
Owensboro lost its top goal scorer in Rylee Cox from last season, so they will need to find production elsewhere.
While they will look to the returning cast mostly for that production, on the other side of the pitch Owensboro will have some newcomers Sandifer expects to make a difference.
“Our top newcomers are Sophomore Olivia Wilkins and Junior Alli Hardison,” Lovett said. “Alli will be starting this year as a defender which is a new position for her and Olivia will be getting her first varsity minutes as a center back with Sydney Lovett.”
Lovett said that keeping all players on the field along with senior leadership will be the key to Owensboro finding success this season.
“Health is the number one key to our team’s success, we must stay healthy on and off the field, and we must enhance our goal scoring prowess and have a huge defensive presence, and leadership from our senior class of seven,” Lovett said.
Owensboro Catholic:
Owensboro Catholic will return some of its core from the 2020 season, setting their sights on a state title this upcoming season.
The Aces key players returning is 2020 All-State selection Maddie Hayden as well as an All-State Honorable Mention in Ashton Logsdon.
Along with these key players, Rachel Traylor on the back line and Katie Riney, Ella Claire Goetz and Ginny Young in the midfield to bolster Owensboro Catholic’s roster. The team will also look to Elle Brey and Abby Payne for quality minutes.
“Sophomore Elle Brey will be looking to replace Emmy Moore in the back line,” Head Coach Andy Hines said. “Abby Payne finished out last year in goal after Megan Goodwin went down in Regionals. Abby Payne will bring a solid shot-stopper to goal for this season and we are expecting her to step up big this year.”
After a fully new coaching staff led the program in 2020, Hines hopes to see the team continue to grow together this year.
“Last year was the first year with our coaching staff as we were all new,” Hines said. “So it took a little longer to figure out what we wanted, but they know what to expect this year. So we want to grow on the concepts and build on the concepts to be better than we were. I also think our schedule is pretty intense, we will have bumps in our schedule, so keeping our head up and looking forward towards the end goal will be a key to success.”
Hines said along with team chemistry needing to be at its peak, the defense and communication as a whole must follow.
Hines said that if they can do that, Catholic can be one of the best teams in the Commonwealth.
“Our Expectations are high. We want to win all district games, District Champs and Regional Champs,” Hines said. “We want to get back to the State Tournament like we did last year. We also have set our sights on winning the All-A State Tournament.”
Apollo:
Apollo girl’s soccer has a very young team, but they hope to surprise people when district and region play comes around.
Apollo has a slew of athletes returning, including junior goalkeeper Johannah Hutchinson, team captain senior Libby Biggs and junior Aleia Henderson on the defensive side of the pitch.
Meanwhile, there are a trio of players as well as rising returners in Alana Rone and Eh Moo that will be crucial on the offensive side according to Head Coach Dave Woeste.
“Junior Madolyn Decker, sophomore Jolie Foster and sophomore Ella Hayden will give us tremendous wing play this year which has been lacking,” Woeste said. “Their ability on the wings to get crosses will be very important to our ability to score this year. Sophomore Alana Rone scored four goals in our first scrimmage vs Marion HS this season. She is an excellent athlete and has a very strong shot. Junior Eh Moo will direct our team at the #6 position. She has really developed as a smart and technical player.”
Apollo will also have a pair of freshmen that Woeste thinks will make an immediate impact on team success.
“Freshman Kara Green is a very skilled player and has a nose for the goal,” Woeste said. “She has played two years on JV as a middle school player and has really developed into an excellent attacker. Freshman Eh Htoo is going to give us speed on the outside defense position. She works very hard and has improved very much.”
Some focal points for the team to improve on from last season included goal production, solid defense and winning the possession battle.
“Speed on the outside wings and scoring,” Woeste said. “We are very excited about our offense this season and hope to have some good goal production. Our goalkeeper is going to have to come up with some big saves like last season for us to be successful. Good patience on defense will also be a key to our success this season in developing the attack.”
If Apollo can piece together all of these parts of the team’s game, Woeste thinks they can be an exciting team to watch despite their lack of experience.
“We are still very young,” Woeste said. “We have lost some experience from last season but this team thus far has shown great resilience and plays good team possession soccer. We hope to compete well and we look forward to surprising some teams this season.”
