By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Changes are in store for Joplin’s girls soccer program with a new coaching staff that’s ready to get after it in 2024.
Desmond Williams takes over as the Eagles head coach–he also coaches the boys in the fall–after spending four years coaching track at Neosho. He previously coached soccer at Crowder College in Neosho and has worked as Director of Player Development for the Joplin Demize and also coached with Sporting Springfield.
He’ll be assisted by Sarah Gregory, a California native who played four years at Missouri Southern, and Hannah Young, who’s from Kansas City.
“And I’m from Texas, so you’ve got Texas, California and Kansas City, three places which are very soccer heavy,” Williams said. “The girls seeing that and how serious the coaches are and the things we’re trying to accomplish, it has them pretty motivated right now. It’s just yes sir or yes ma’am and putting their heads down and getting after it. I’m excited to see what we can do this season. I’m local, I’ve been here for a while and in the coaching area, so I know a lot of the girls and they know me for the most part.”
Boys assistant Aaron Gooch is also volunteering and has helped convince several girls to try the sport this spring, Williams said.
“We’ve got a coaching staff that’s ready to get after it,” he said. “With our backgrounds I think you’re going to see a lot of changes in the girls soccer program moving forward.”
Joplin played to a 5-12 record last year and graduated a couple key seniors but Williams said the team returns as many as a dozen players with varsity experience. Three of them who should be big contributors this spring are seniors Denise Trejo and Masyn Briggs and junior Ava Foust. The seniors will probably play in the midfield and Foust could play as a winger again or move to forward.
“Denise is probably one of our better players and she’s a technical player,” Williams said. “Ava could be a star for us this year, she’s kind of the leader and plays club soccer at a really high level. Masyn will be a key for us this year, too; she’s been around and played club ball and I coached her briefly before.”
The team will also rely on senior Ashley Phillips, a defender who’s contributed since her freshman year; senior Averi Burks, a forward; junior Jasmine Kilafwa, a midfielder; and junior Roody Blaise, a defender.
The rest of the lineup remains a question mark, with Williams waiting to see who shows up to tryouts. He had more than 50 girls attend a preseason meeting in December and said as many as two dozen have attended preseason workouts.
“We can only keep 35 and from what I’ve heard they typically haven’t had to make very many cuts, but it looks like we’ll have to make a good amount this year which is a good problem to have,” he said.
He hopes to field a roster that will excel at possessing the ball.
“I like to keep the ball and not force anything too much,” he said. “I like to attack, too, but in a possession sense. Possess to attack. I’m very tactical about how we go about things. Every coach has their own style, like me being a possession heavy guy, but we’ll have to adapt to who we’ve got. At the end of the day, we want to develop players and win some games. It’s not all about winning–I want to develop the players the best we can first. We’re doing a lot more fitness than what the girls are used to. A lot of our drills are more complex than they’re used to. But they’ve responded well so I’m excited about the year.”
Joplin will open the regular season at home against Nixa on March 26.
