MSHSAA announced on Monday, Mar. 16 that they would not be cancelling spring sports due to the Coronavirus. There will be delays to the start of the season and you can read the full MSHSAA release on spring sports by clicking here. Many area schools have called off classes and extracurricular activities through at least Apr. 3 and will reassess at that time. We will continue to post our spring previews. Please note that this preview was written before delays for the spring season were announced.
By Chris Parker
John de la Torre enters his second season as head coach of a McDonald County girls soccer team that is entering just its fifth year of varsity play. He has focused on building a family atmosphere are McDonald County.
“A lot of our focus for this girls team was to bring them together as a family, not just a group of players who share a jersey for a few months,” De la Torre said. “We had a very relaxed approach to the season last year, trying to build up a team and a program from the inside out, and did everything we could to get these girls to enjoy this game and enjoy the time they spent together. Although our record may not have been what we wanted, we saw a sizable decrease in opponent’s goals per game, increased our technical ability and knowledge of the game, and believe what we did created a culture that will draw more interest and focus onto this program going forward.”
De la Torre will look for his team to perform better in close games after dropping seven games by just one goal last year, which included a 1-0 loss to Carl Junction in the first round of district play.
“Although we graduated key components of our defense, we plan on being just as strong on the defensive side of the ball this year. Ultimately, scoring goals is one target area for us this year to increase our success and find more wins in those types of close games,” de la Torre said.
McDonald County graduated both of its all-conference players in Baylee Payne and Leslie Yousey from last year’s team.
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“Leadership, on and off the field, is one thing we will miss most about those two girls. Their intensity and drive for success is what helped keep this team competitive and what held them together,” de la Torre said.
Five seniors will lead the Lady Mustangs this year. That group includes: Ava Smith (defender), Kaylee Eberley (defender), Aaliyah Rubio (midfielder), Nautica Gutierrez (midfielder) and Alexia Estrada (forward).
Defense will be a strength with this group, while finding more scoring will be key to success.
“Each season I’ve coached at MCHS, two with the Boys and one with the Girls, we’ve seen a decrease in opponent’s goals per game, and that is a trend we will look to continue. Defensive discipline, aggression, and hard work is what we hope will define our team this season,” de la Torre said. “Goal scoring was a major problem for us last season and is obviously a major area of concern for us going into this season, and something we will look to improve on immediately.”
Overall, de la Torre wants to see continued improvement from his growing program.
“Our expectations will be to grow off of last year. We were very competitive against a lot of strong teams last year and want to turn those competitive games into more wins. Obviously winning is always an expectation, but continuing to build this program up in the right way, and focusing on the overall growth of the program is what we are wanting to get out of this season,” de la Torre said.
