By Denise Tucker (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It was a historic run for the Glendale Lady Falcons as they soared to a second-place finish in the 2022 Class 3 state tournament – the program’s fourth trip to the final four, which has included a third-place and two fourth-place finishes.
“We take pride at Glendale in preparing our kids for the postseason,” said hall-of-fame coach Jeff Rogers, who enters his 26th season as the girls’ head coach and his 32nd overall, including the boys’ program. “It doesn’t mean you will always make a deep run, but we play a tough schedule to prepare for those types of games.
“We had plenty of OT games in 2022 and that helped us to settle in and not panic, which paid off in the state semis, winning in OT. We sit on the bubble between Class 3 and 4, which means we never know where we will land. We try and build a schedule to play the best teams we can to prepare for the end-of-the-season games.”
The Lady Falcons finished 21-4 overall and 10-0 in the Ozark Conference. Three of their losses all came in overtime before they rattled off 11 straight wins heading into the state championship – a 5-3 loss to Ft. Zumwalt South.
Three starters, including two NCAA Division-I signees, and five other returnees are back from that state runner-up team, led by Class 3 Offensive Player of the Year Reilly Heman, Riley Whisenhunt and Avery Givens.
• Reilly Heman, senior midfielder, scored 32 goals with 11 assists. Earned all-state first-team honors, as well as being named Class 3 Region 3 and District 5 Player of the Year, and Ozark Conference Most Valuable Player. “ ‘Roo’ will play at Missouri State University and is a dynamic player in the open field,” Rogers said. “She presents a lot of challenges for opposing teams. She continues to work hard every day as a player and has been rewarded. She was named to the ODP (Olympic Development Program) National Team.”
• Riley Whisenhunt, senior defender, scored 7 goals with 6 assists. Named second-team all-state, all-region, all-district and second-team all-conference. “ ‘Wiz’ will play college soccer for Arkansas State University and is a great defender for us. She will be a leader for us this year after we lost three defenders and a keeper last year to graduation. She is consistent in her role and reads the game well. We will rely on her to settle a young core around her as we face great offensive threats.”
• Meegan Randall, senior goalkeeper, recorded a .86 goals-against average. “ ‘Meegs’ is a tremendous athlete and will not only play soccer at Olivet Nazarene University, but also softball. She has competed in many national events as a goalkeeper and has numerous awards (including the MYSA Save of the Year in 2022). She will be our last line of defense this year and I am excited to watch her compete.”
• Avery Givens, junior midfielder, named all-conference honorable mention. “ ‘AG’ is a great compliment to ‘Roo’ in the midfield. She is a great competitor and has logged varsity minutes since her freshman year. She has a great touch and is a vision player. She is a rhythm player that gets better and better as the season progresses.”
• “Ayla Walden, Kacey McCoy and Sage Baker have all contributed to the varsity and will now need to step in and fill contributing roles for us.”
• “Trystan Mayer (defender) started many varsity games as a freshman last year and had a great core of older girls to show her the way. She will be instrumental for us as we look to slow high-powered offenses.”
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Glendale’s incoming freshmen have the opportunity to log varsity minutes this season.
“It is always exciting the first few games to watch players step up and begin to leave their mark on our team and season,” Rogers said.
The Lady Falcons will have some big shoes to fill with the loss of three defenders, a goalkeeper, a midfielder and a forward.
Taylor Thompson (goalkeeper) was a first-team all-state, all-region, all-district selection and all-conference Goalkeeper of the Year. She is playing at William Jewell College. Leah McDonald (defender) was injured and is playing at Indiana State University. Reece Hertel (midfielder), who earned all-district and honorable mention all-conference honors, is now playing at Evangel University. Halle Eise (defender) was a first-team all-state, all-region and all-district Defender of the Year and all-conference Co-Defender of the Year. Hannah Rohrbaugh (defender), all-district and all-conference honorable mention, and Annabel Stenger (forward), all-district and all-conference honorable mention, also are gone from the state runner-up squad.
“This group played club ball together for years and they were a very talented group,” Rogers said. “All were first-team-level players and three are currently playing college ball. They were great leaders and had big-game experience. They produced a lot of our offense and anchored our defense since their freshman year. They played for a state championship and showed our younger players the path forward.”
Between both the girls’ and boys’ programs, Rogers has put together an impressive resume with 13 trips to the final four and has hit multiple coaching milestones. Most recently, he picked up win No. 1,000 in the boys’ win over Branson on Sept. 10, 2022.
“After celebrating the 1,000th win in the fall with both programs, we will continue to move forward,” said Rogers, whose overall record now stands at 1,020-382-70 – all at Glendale – for fourth all-time in Missouri. “I am well into the second generation (of players) where I coached Mom, Dad, or both, and each year I see more familiar names on the roster, which has been truly a blessing.”
The Lady Falcons will participate in a jamboree at Kickapoo with Nixa on March 9 before opening the regular season on the road at Camdenton on March 23.
“This is a great group of girls that are very competitive and coachable,” Rogers said. “There are no egos in this group. After losing 90 percent of our offense and defense from last year, we are in a position to regroup.
“It reminds me of the fall with the boys when we challenged them to step up and they did. We will wait and see what class we land in and what district and go out each day and have fun.”
