By Staff

Fall 2019 Preview: Webb City Soccer

By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Entering his third year at the helm, Webb City soccer coach Nick Harmon has reason to be excited.

The Cardinals have improved their win totals significantly under his guidance, going from four wins in 2016 to 10 in each of the last two years. They’ve finished as the district runner-up both years, and Harmon was Class 3 District 12 coach of the year last season.

“I’m really excited because these upperclassmen this year were all underclassmen my first year here so this is kind of the first year where everybody here has grown up through the program under us. Over the last year the boys have been training really hard. They still have a bad taste in their mouth from how last season ended. They’re just really excited and motivated to get back at it.”

That bad taste is from a 3-2 loss to Neosho in the district finals that ended Webb City’s season. It was a 3-1 loss to Neosho in the district finals in 2017 that ended the year.

A district championship has proven elusive for Webb City. It’s been 20 years since the last one.

“That’s been our immediate goal ever since we got here,” Harmon said. “I feel like that’s the biggest sort of step forward that we need to take from there and hopefully just keep building and push further and further into the postseason every year.”

Webb City lost just three players from last year’s squad, but they were important ones like Manuel Cornelio, the district offensive player of the year and a first team all-conference pick. He was the team’s leading goal scorer. Also gone to graduation are Connor Mahaffey, the team’s second-leading scorer, and Eythan Gilmore.

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“Obviously anytime you lose your top two leading goal scorers, it’s going to be different,” Harmon said. “There will be some shoes to fill.”

The Cardinals do return a trio of players who earned postseason recognition. Senior Landon Black was a first team all-district pick at midfielder and an honorable mention all-conference player, senior Jacob Bundy was a second team pick at forward and junior David Aquilar was a second team pick at midfielder.

Bundy will be tasked with picking up the goal scoring duties; he was third on the team in goals last season.

“I think he’s extremely capable and I think the expectation amongst everybody is that he’ll just step into those shoes,” Harmon said. “Landon plays all over the field, the kid is an absolute animal. He’s a nightmare to play against and he covers so much ground that I know he’ll put a lot in the net but he’ll also sort of be the motor engine of the team that does a lot of the dirty work to create the opportunities.

“David is a really skilled technical player with his feet,” he said. “He doesn’t venture into the box a whole lot and get forward but he commands a lot of things in the middle of the field. He’s got great vision, he’s a great passer. He sets up a lot of things going forward.”

Webb City returns two “really good” goalies in Alex Gooch, a senior, and Noah Mitchell, a junior. Gooch started last season but was out during the district tournament, when Mitchell made some “incredible” saves, Harmon said.

“We feel like we’ve got a lot of depth there,” he said. “A good foundation for us. We’ll get our entire back line back, two center backs, both our outside backs. We should get our entire midfield back. we’re adding some pretty exciting young players, some freshmen. They’re young but there’s some talent in that class.”

One of those newcomers is Cornelio’s younger brother, Juan.

“We lost maybe one of the best players ever to come through this program and the year he leaves his little brother is entering as a freshman,” Harmon said. “He’s a creative player, he’s good with his feet. I could see him growing into a pretty talented player. He’s one that stands out among others.”

Junior Daniel Solis returns as the mainstay in the back to add stability and senior Ian Edwards returns in the other center back spot but could play anywhere on the back line or even in the midfield.

All anybody has been talking about since last November, Harmon said, is winning the district tournament.

“That’s been the thought that has been on the forefront of their minds and it’s been the motivating factor that we’ve used,” he said. “We’ll have a lot of seniors and juniors on the field this year who were on the field last year and remember how it felt. For that matter a lot of them were there two years ago and remember how it felt to be ahead in both games and end up losing. They’re not satisfied with it. They’re well aware of the fact that Webb City soccer has not won anything since the 90’s. I think they want to be the start of a new generation and set a new legacy.”