As we ready ourselves for 2016, we embark on a season of change. What's up?
Well, first of all, we say goodbye to a group of girls who had started for us for the last four years. Jamie Kutey, the leading goal-score in STA history, is playing at Marquette. All State Center Midfielders, Olivia Meyers, and Madison Holmes are gone as well. Our bookend wingbacks, All-State Sarah Tyler, and All EKL, Molly Schmidt are off playing at Northwest Missouri State and Benedictine, respectfully, with State Defensive Player of the Year, centerback, Taylor Reynolds, playing at Southern Illinois. And Benedictine Abby Kwapiszeski gave us quite a few minutes up top as well. So we turn over six starters, 3 out of the four back positions, including our defensive center midfielder who is so importantly linked to the back for us.
But we do bring five starters back. So let's start there. All EKL, ECNL centerback Hania Crow, two-year captain, brings two years of experience to the back. We also can easily slot sophomore captain ECNL centerback, Alex Moss, into that other spot. We do return two elite sophomore goalkeepers in Allyiah Calvert and Nicole McEnroe. UCM signee Kristina Colling played a lot of right back for us as a sophomore before missing a chunk of her junior year with injuries. With her back for 2016, healthy, and Baker signee Michaela Stompoly we ought to be able to solidify the wingback position. We do love the play of junior Brigid Linder, especially on the left side in the back as a strong, physical presence.
What will be key for us is to find that link to our front half at the defensive center midfield spot? We have some strong candidates returning and moving up from JV. But we will need this position to click if we are going to be as strong as we have been in the past.
We also return some very skilled center midfielders in 2-year starter ECNL senior captain, Addie Denning, and sophomore Futura national semifinalist Margaret Pigott. We also return seniors Mary Sesti (3 year-letterwinner and captain) Meg Loughman (1-year letter winner), and junior Katelyn Heying (2-year letter winner). We are very excited about adding junior Olathe East transfer, Garrison Galley, to that center midfield mix as well. We expect to see her more towards the front of our center midfield diamond, but we know she will be on the field somewhere with her size, skill and athleticism.
Now the front end of the field has to start with the huge hole left by the departure of Jamie Kutey. So What's up front? Well, first of all, we get junior Caroline Romme back from a season-ending injury that came just before last year's playoff run. And she was producing. We also return junior Anna Woltering, who logged quite a few quality minutes up top for us last year. We do return two senior speedsters in Sophie Geiger and Sarah Petty who can get to the endline as well.
We, however, bring in another piece of that Futura team that made the National Semi-finals last summer in freshman forward, Hallie Klanke. We have not had a forward arrive with as much fanfare as Hallie, well since Jamie Kutey and Hannah Pyle.
So with our strong returnees at the forward position and the addition of Galley and Klanke we expect to keep scoring goals. That's what's up!
And we do have a couple of other very strong freshman and 2-3 post-season-varsity-rostered sophomores and JV players who will compete for the last few varsity spots.
We are going to have to be good pretty early with the Mo-Kan so early in the season. The Mo-Kan returns 4 defending state champions in BVNW, Sion, St. Teresa and us. And then we add LS North, one of the top teams in large class in Missouri to the field with St. James, Olathe South, and Liberty.
We are the defending EKL champs as well, an EKL that posts the preseason #1 team in the State, BV West, and defending 6A Champs, BV Northwest, 5A state runner-up BV Southwest not to mention 4A power Bishop Miege and always-good BV North and Blue Valley. That race should be fantastic again this season.
We do return to Iowa to play three showcase games against 3 of the best teams in the country, from 3 different states: St. Charles North from Illinois, Visitation from Missouri, and Divine Savior from Wisconsin. All of those teams are picked to be contenders for their respective state titles.
We do head down to Wichita to catch a glimpse of the Southwest, playing Kapaun and Maize South, two of the best teams from that area. But if we can make it back to the final four for the 14th straight year, we are bound to see last year's 6A Final-four team, Maize, who has changed places with BV West this year.
On the coaching front, although we might see Jessica Brown around some later in the season, she will be tending to her newborn daughter, Gracelynn Marie (future Saint goalie) most of the season. Former Aquinas star centerback, Jordyn Beck (2010), will take over the JV and help us on varsity as well.
We do bring back the rest of us, though. Coach Ewing logs year 28; Coach Hammons is in year 22; Erin Ellefson returns for year 6, BWhite for year 12, Bryan Turner for year 4, Will Ragsdale for year 3, and Ron Brown for year 14.
We have to believe with the turnover of 6 key starting positions it might take us longer to gel than it has the last 6 years, but with what we have returning and what we have coming in, we do expect to meet our high expectations for a nice taste of some 7 UP at Andover in May.
