By Jim Fryar
sports@joplinglobe.com
JOPLIN, Mo. —
Missouri Southern’s soccer team made positive strides during what could have been a disruptive offseason.
Now it’s time for the Lions to start making those strides on the field of competition.
One coach resigned to take a new job. Then his replacement accepted the job but changed his mind a few days later, and the former assistant coach was elevated to take control of the program.
Through that whirlwind of change, the Lions remained positive, said Sarah Evers, one of just three seniors on the roster.
Evers, coming off ACL surgery which cut her junior season short by eight games, may be more ready to play than her teammates.
Southern plays at Northeastern State in Tahlequah, Okla., at 5 p.m. Friday to open the first season for new head coach Alese Woolard. The Lions’ home opener will be at 2 p.m. Sunday, at Hal Bodon Field, against Newman University of Wichita.
“I think we are a talented team with a lot of experience,” Evers said of the Lions. “It (winning) is kind of a mindset. ... Last year, it seemed like we would work so hard and then we would have one lax moment and (opponents) would score. ... That one goal would be our downfall.”
The Lions were 5-15 last year and were shut out in 12 of the losses. They finished 3-13 in MIAA games.
It’s been a major change since Evers was a freshman and the Lions had an 11-5-3 record with a winning record (7-5-2) in the conference. The previous season, in the fall of 2006, the Lions were 11-4-5 overall and 9-2-3 in Woolard’s first season as assistant coach under Trevor Wachsman.
“This can be a very good team,” said Woolard. “We finally have some depth, which will help. We really have everything that we need to do well. It’s just a matter of getting them all going in the right direction. We have a very talented group and a big portion of them has experience.”
The Lions return eight players who started half or more of the games a year ago, plus a class of eight incoming freshmen.
“There is a lot of competition for playing time,” said Woolard, a former Southern goalkeeper and previously a Lions’ softball player.
“That is something we needed to happen. We only lost two players to graduation last year and we planned to bring in more than we lost for that fact, the competition. Each day at practice is a competition and each game is a competition. It has been good for our team to have that competition. ... It has been good for our team because, in the back of their minds, they know there are other people who can play.”
The Lions’ starting lineup remained unsettled after Woolard met individually with the players on Tuesday.
“There are going to be some very talented players who won’t be starting,” she said. “That doesn’t mean they won’t play a significant role in a game.”
If there is a major change Woolard and assistant coach Christina Kleekamp would like to see, it would be more offensive consistency. The Lions managed just 18 goals, and seven of those came in the first four games.
Michelle Dimza, a junior from St. Louis Notre Dame, and Alicia Vonderheid, a sophomore from Florissant, Mo., scored three goals each last season.
An ideal situation would be to have someone step up and score six or seven goals, preferably more than one player, Woolard said.
“I would rather see (the balanced scoring),” she said. “It’s easier (for an opposing defense) to take that one person than three or four.”
Evers, from Fenton, Mo., is a forward-midfielder. The other seniors are midfielder Lindsay Altman, from Joplin, and defender Laura Rodolf, from Oklahoma City.
Junior veterans are goalkeeper Randi Russell (Joplin); midfielder-forward Dimza; midfielder-defender Danai Noftz (Littleton, Colo.); midfielders Kayla Bell (Fort Gibson, Okla.), Lindi Spilchen (North Bay, Ontario), Shannon Kuhn (Wentzville, Mo.) and Brianna McKenzie (Webb City) and defender Kara Hammann (St. Charles Francis Howell North).
Sophomore forwards are Candis Clark (Maryland Heights, Mo.), Megan Steuve (Lee’s Summit) and Cortney Sanders (Bentonville, Ark.). Sophomore midfielders are Vonderheid and Corinne Tebbs (Burleson, Texas).
Dimza, Clark, Evers, Sanders, Kuhn, McKenzie, Hammann and Altman all started a majority of Southern’s games last season.
Freshmen on the roster are goalkeepers Ashley Bechtold (Oklahoma City) and Beth Hammons (Smithville, Mo.); forward-midfielders Kelly White (Rogers, Ark.) and Emily Boyer (Lebanon); defenders Dana Wilhelm (St. Louis), Samantha Zoltanski (Bridgeton, Mo.) and Megan Jenisch (Ozark) and midfielder Latea LaRue (Linn Creek, Mo.)
The Lions should be well-prepared to play after a spring trip to Spain, including three games, and then three preseason scrimmage games.
