By Chris Parker
Parkview soccer returns nine starters from last season’s four-win team.
“We were very young last year and gained experience. We will look for that experience to translate to our play this season,” Parkview head coach Shelby Stewart said.
A trio of seniors in Manuel Salgado (forward), Jovani Acevedo (goalie) and Blake Weston (defender) will be team leaders.
“All three will be senior leaders that are counted on in order to provide the needed leadership for our younger players,” Stewart said. “They all possess natural leadership abilities that can allow our team major growth.”
Leading returning goal scorer Gage Weston returns at forward in his sophomore season.
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The midfield will be an open competition early on.
“The midfield is up for competition,” Stewart said. “Alessandro Danko is our returner with the most experience. We will look for him to learn to adjust to higher volume of minutes and facilitate the ball at a higher rate this year.”
Weston will be joined on the backline at defender by Jesus Padron (sophomore), Preston Wycoff (junior) and Ross Alvarado (senior).
Preston Wycoff (junior) will share goalkeeping duties with Acevedo.
Parkview opens the season on Aug. 28 at Monett.
“We want our identity to always be connected to that fact that we work hard and get better each week. Our goal is to get better and give our competition the best game possible each night,” Stewart said. “Our expectations are to climb the conference standings, compete to make it to the final in our district, become better soccer players each day.”
