By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After playing in district championship games for three years in a row, the Webb City girls soccer team was set to return 11 starters and 14 letterwinners last season.
While the canceled season was obviously disappointing for head coach Nick Harmon and the Cardinals, Webb City returns to the field this spring with one of the most experienced teams in the area.
“We were fortunate in that a lot of the area teams got together and hosted a summer league last summer and so although that was abbreviated, it did provide the younger players the opportunity to play against legitimate high school opponents,” Harmon said. “In terms of their development that has been great. They’ve also played futsal over this past winter and we’ve been training every opportunity we get.
“I think they’re developing as well as they could be given the circumstances and I have a big group of seniors that were returning that’s pretty hungry to set the record straight,” he said.
The Cardinals will be led by senior Mileah Metcalf, a forward who was an all-region player and first team Central Ozark Conference pick as a sophomore. She has been a starter since her freshman season.
“She was our leading goal scorer and she scored a game-winning goal in the district semifinals in overtime,” Harmon said. “She scored a lot of big goals for us that year as an underclassman. We’ll definitely be looking to her up top to pick up where she left off and continue scoring goals.”
Metcalf scored 12 goals and added two assists in 2019. Classmate Melia Blair added seven goals and six assists, making for a potent scoring duo.
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Other returners are junior forward Anea Bemo, senior attacker Haven Stanley, senior midfielder Sage Cranford, senior midfielder Velissia Perez, junior defender Austyn Mickey, senior defender Chloe Johnston and junior goalkeeper Delaney Duke.
“We were unique two years ago in that all of our starters were sophomores and freshmen essentially with the exception of one,” Harmon said. “Two years later now those sophomores are seniors and we’re very fortunate to have such a good group of girls for so long.”
Sophomore defender Hally Philpot was breaking into the varsity squad and competing for a spot on the back line last year. She will challenge for one of those spots again this year. Senior midfielder Rylie Huff is challenging for a spot after earning some time two years ago. Senior midfielder Aubrey Hardy also returns with some varsity experience. And sophomore defender Piper Chapman had earned a starting spot as a freshman and is challenging for a back line spot like Philpot.
“We’ve got some incoming freshmen who have been working out with us in the offseason,” Harmon said. “They played a little bit last summer and they’re a couple talented players with a lot of potential. I could see them challenging for varsity spots.”
In the history of Webb City soccer the Cardinals have finished above .500 just once – 2018 when they went 14-7 and won the Class 3 District 12 championship. But the only real question mark heading into 2020 for Harmon is if the team will perform at the level it’s capable of.
“But I have full confidence that we will,” he said.
“We obviously want to win as many games as possible during the regular season,” he said, “and we want to win as many games as possible in the postseason. To make that run as deep into the postseason as we can. I think in order to do that we just have to focus on what’s in front of us each day at a time.”
Webb City will open with a jamboree on Thursday, March 18 at Carl Junction. The Cardinals host Hillcrest on March 25.
