By Chris Parker
McDonald County boys soccer returns six starters and 10 total lettermen from last season’s five-win team.
Head coach Nathan Haikey expects Thomas De la Cruz (senior goalkeeper), Griffin Schutten (senior goalkeeper), Oscar Mora (senior forward), Jose Mendoza (senior midfield/forward) and Richard Gasca (junior midfield/defender) to be team leaders.
“De la Cruz brings confidence and composure in goal. Schutten is a vocal leader who leads by example. Mora leads by example and lets his play do his talking. Mendoza is a competitor who gives it his all for the team. Gasca is an extremely confident player who directs a lot of the play on the field,” Haikey said.
Mora will be joined at forward by junior Giovanni Gonzalez and sophomore Miguel Hernandez. Gonzalez was the team’s second-leading scorer last season with eight goals.
Mendoza, Gasca, Tony Rubi (senior), Christian Ramirez (junior) and Marco Sanchez (sophomore) will control the midfield this season.
Hasler Lopez (senior), Sanchez, Luis De la Cruz (sophomore), Yeisom Lopez (junior) and Steven Paxtor (junior) will be on defense.
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Goalkeeping will be a strength for the team between Thomas De la Cruz and Schutten.
“We have been extremely fortunate since I have been here to have some really good goalkeepers,” Haikey said. “De la Cruz was a first-team all-district selection as well as a Big 8 Conference second-team selection and the Mustangs’ Player of the Year in 2022 and has made at least 170 saves per season for the past three years. Schutten has really worked hard over the past few seasons to improve in goal both technically and tactically. Those two push each other every day in training and it has really improved both of them as players.”
The whole McDonald County soccer team had a strong offseason of improvement.
“Honestly, they have all improved,” Haikey said. “They show up to training everyday ready to learn and compete and because of that, their technical ability, tactical awareness, and overall soccer IQ has grown by miles.”
Speed will be key for a McDonald County program looking to put more goals on the board after averaging 1.6 per game last season.
“As a unit, this team has a lot of speed while also being really creative. These two things should allow us to create more shots on goal while also allowing more players to contribute with goals,” Haikey said. “Offensively, we just need to score more goals while continuing to improve on the defensive end. We did improve on our goals scored last season with 27 up from 15 the previous season while allowing only 42 goals. Down from the 60 plus allowed during the 2021 season.”
McDonald County opens the regular season Aug. 29-Sept. 2 at the Cassville Soccer Classic.
“My expectations are to finish in the top half of the conference and win our first-round district tournament match,” Haikey said. “This program is going into year nine and we are starting to consistently have good numbers, which is helping to provide team depth as well as competition for positions and playing time.”
