By Matt Turer – mturer@ky3.com
@MattTurer
After a down year in 2015, Joplin appeared to begin working its way back to the success the soccer program saw from 2010-2014 (94 wins).
The Eagles return three all-conference selections from a 13-win group that was eliminated by Ozark in district semifinal action, 3-0. Those three are senior defenseman Jonathan Loden (1st Team), senior goalkeeper Garrett Nimmo (1st Team) and junior forward Ethan Merino (HM). Loden was also an all-region selection.
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“We have a great group of players coming back and the chemistry the players have developed over the past three years is great,” head coach Luis Percovich said. “Every year we set out to improve on our previous season, and while this does involve improving on our record and beating teams we lost against, our main focus is on us, growing as a team and as individuals.”
The Eagles have a large senior class, which excites Percovich.
“A lot of our players are very ambitious and we will look to use that ambition and turn it into our fuel to go as far as we can in the regular and postseason,” Percovich said.
“Unlike previous years, our big senior class will help make us an experienced team with a lot of potential leaders.”
Loden and Nimmo will key one of the stronger defenses in the Ozark Conference. Even so, Percovich has made sure to keep the focus on the team rather than individuals this summer.
“For the past three years we’ve been focusing on building a family-like team mentality, and the group of players we have this year have worked very hard to make sure that translates into our playing style,” he said.
“Although we do have some players that we will look to provide that extra push during the tough games, overall we are very pleased with the group that we have and will continue to focus on the group to help bring us a successful season.”
Joplin opens its season by hosting conference rival Lebanon on Aug. 22.
