2015 ended with the Saints as the 5A State Runner-up, ending a 2-year reign as State Champs. Our Saints, though, have taken that trophy back to the bus to take home to the Aquinas' trophy case in 10 of the last 13 seasons. So we may be returning to GO to start this new campaign, but we are looking to win quite a few properties as we circle the board, hoping to collect that ultimate reward in November, a 2016 State Title.
We will have to accomplish this feat without quite a cast of graduates: All American, Gatorade Player of the Year, defensive center midfielder and centerback, Lucas Bartlett; Team MVP, Top Drawer All-State center midfielder, Tyler Stoecklein; All-State forward, Cole Younger; All-State Right Back, Matthew Johnson, along with 7 other graduates who really contributed, such as Pedro Arias now playing at Rockhurst.
But as we get ready to GO we have played the most games during the summer than we have ever played, and against quality competition. We played in 3 tournaments, and a friendly with Olathe East, while dropping the degenerating Sunflower Games. These early matches certainly figure to put us in a better position for opening night against St. James.
And what we have found out is that we will be strong in the middle of the field. We could actually play a lot of 4-3-3 with 2-year letterman, a senior captain, Danny Gabriel, and 1-year letterman, junior captain Curt Whigham holding down the offensive center midfield spots. Freshman Parker Stoecklein has been getting lots of summer minutes as well along with sophomore Esteban Arias.
We do return sophomore Evan Neely, who looks to get plenty of minutes at that defensive center midfield spot along with another sophomore Joey Caragher. But replacing Bartlett will be a large task, but both players have had a good summer.
Our defense has always been a key component of STA soccer, and we return quite a chunk of last year's fine, fine defense. We lose Johnson, but we return both centerbacks, our left back and our goalkeeper. Aubrey Evans, a senior captain, and a 2nd team all-stater, is recovering from an ACL tear, so he won't actually play until sometime in September, but he will return. Another senior captain, Sam Sketers, will hold down that other spot. Both of those guys are potential All-Staters and will protect senior Sam Kimball's goal. (Who will backup Kimball will probably be an evolution as we have seen quite a few guys in goal this summer. We even have another Stoecklein, Quinton, back playing soccer in goal.)
Just from this summer, we have seen lots of growth in our left back, senior Andrew Wherry. He denies the ball so well, and he can go forward in a way that will create some scoring. We will fill right back with someone new. Sophomore Reid Howard looks to start at centerback until Evans return, but he certainly could slide over to right back when that happens. Seniors Matthew Ewert, Cole Geiss and some underclassmen will have a shot at that spot as well.
We do look as if we are going to have some speed on the wings, and with the possibility of playing two wings, we could get forward pretty well. Track superstar, junior Devin Diggs, is one of those wings, and he has also had a nice summer. Landon Wirt should help us on the outside as well. But move-in from Florida, Ricardo Gonzalez could serve as our biggest surprise. He has wheels, and he can make that ball do some things other kids can't get it to do. Sam Gasparovich has played very well in the middle target spot, doing plenty of scoring this summer and finding our wings. Another senior Jack Marshall can play there as well, or on the wing or in the back. Jack will get plenty of minutes somewhere for us.
The schedule takes on some new twists this year as well. The EKL expands to 10 teams (for one year and then Gardner promptly leaves), adding Mill Valley and St. James. Of course, lately, we have always opened with that great TROOPOUT against St. James anyway, but Mill Valley will be new.
SO WE ARE NOT GOING TO WICHITA! (No, we will not miss the playing conditions, but the trip offered good competition and a chance to bond.) We also have left the TOP DAWG, a tournament that had not made much sense for us since it became 3 EKL teams and Rockhurst a few years ago. Now we can play Northwest at home for the first time in 23 years, and we still can play Rockhurst right here at STA.
We also have added a good LS North team to the schedule and 6A-favorite Olathe East in a weekend televised match. So we do have some nice adjustment to our schedule.
And yes we will travel back to St. Louis at the end of September to play in the Gateway Classic. We will once again play in the Upper Bracket to take on the best teams in the country.
On the coaching front, yes we do bring back almost everyone, but we do bring on a great and needed addition for this year. Steven Grow, a fine, fine former Aquinas, and SLU goalie, will be back to help make our goalie position better. Coach Ewing (year 29), Coach Hammons (year 23), BWhite (year 12), Coach Brown (year 14), Coach Turner (year 5), Coach Ragsdale (year 4) and Coach Luengo (year 4) all return. We just have a great staff here at STA! The message of how we defend, how we attack, how we do deadballs, how we do TEAM and how we represent our school, our families, and ourselves comes through consistently from these guys and supports the program going forward.
We are even bringing some senior girls over from their 7th straight state title on the girls side to help with our boys. Look for Caroline Romme, Brigid Linder, and Katelyn Heying to be on the boys' sideline this fall as managers.
So yes, here come some key changes in the starting lineup, a whole new summer approach, some dramatic and exciting schedule changes, a new goalkeeper coach as we return to GO for 2016, but the same old, overall goal remains: Return to Go, Collect a state title.
