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 Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
The Fair Grove Lady Eagles enter the 2020 season with a new coach at the helm – Matt Novak.
Novak takes over for Joseph Florez, who led the Lady Eagles to a 6-13 record in 2019. Fair Grove, which was a district finalist the three previous years, fell in the Class 1 District 6 semifinals, 1-0, to Mountain View-Birch Tree Liberty last season.
The Lady Eagles will have the task of replacing six key players lost to graduation in Macey Stallings, Madi Psyhos, Shyanne McBroom, Cydney Fullerton (all-district second-team), Mattie Lair (all-district second-team) and Graci Rowden.
Stallings scored 15 goals and had 3 assists, and was a Class 1 All-State First-Team, Class 1 Region 3 and Class 1 District 6 First-Team selection. She is playing at Neosho County Community College.
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Psyhos earned second-team all-state, all-region and all-district first team. McBroom scored 8 goals and had 6 assists, and was an all-state second-team and all-region selection. Fullerton and Lair were named second-team all-district.
And, though the Lady Eagles graduated 13 seniors, 12 who played a lot of varsity minutes, Novak does have three seniors returning to the pitch.
• Liz Holland is a senior defender who earned all-region and all-district second-team honors.
• Sydney Dame is a senior goalkeeper who played JV last season.
• Maranntha Holliman is a senior who has started since her sophomore year.
Novak has a couple of sophomores who will look to make an impact this season.
Chole Reynaud, a forward, did get some varsity minutes last year, and Zoey Hupman, a defender, played JV last year and could play a similar position this season on varsity.
Fair Grove opens its regular season on March 26 at home against Bolivar.
