PreSeason Look

We graduated a great senior class last season as we send away Evan Neely, PJ Garcia, Jack Mason, Joey Caragher, Matthew Connor, Matthew Carta, Esteban Arias, Jacob Vance, Jacob Colling, Reid Howard, and Christian Consuegra—that’s a starting line-up. It reminds me of the class of 1993 that left us with just 4 returning letter-winners.  And 1994 did not turn out too badly as those four were stars, and they brought our younger players into the fold.

We will provide some senior star power all right, with Shae Wirt (captain) in goal (on the Top Drawer preseason All American Watch) (sophomore, Carter Diggs, will back him up) and Parker Stoecklein (captain) back and moving up to the “9.” Parker was a finalist for the All State Insurance All American game as a junior and is on every preseason All-State Poll.

But we expect big seasons from senior centerback Gabe Kraft (captain) and senior center midfielder, Jack Martin. And seniors John Anliker and Brennan Schroeder should see plenty of time on the field as well, John on the backline and Brennan up top on the wing.

The key to 1994 was the seniors' ability to make the underclass feel welcome and important. Summer and tryouts have shown a lot of that happening, with this talented underclass performing very well.

It starts with junior and two-time varsity letter-winner, team captain, Mitchell Farrar. He will be starting at centerback with Gabe Kraft. He returns as an All-State player from last year—and on all watchlists this year.

The rest of the backline will come from a very talented 4-some. Some of them will start but all of them will play a lot, and play well. Zayveon Russell and Max Bryson, both juniors, and Jacob Muckerman, a sophomore all bring that offensive burst we will be looking for out of our wingback position and all are so solid on defense. We also have DJ White who will play some centerback.

Our midfield should be awfully strong:  It will start with Jack Martin (Josh Lents’ Tryout Award Winner) at the “8,” but ODP region-team player, junior Andrew Welch will anchor that position out of the “6.” He is so dynamic at the 6 that we expect our ball movement to raise a few eyes.  Barrett Kitts (Josh Lents’ Tryout Award Winner), just a freshman, but a former Sporting Juniors’ player looks to start at the “10.” 

We will see a lot of junior DJ White in that midfield mix and in the centerback mix. We expect a big season from him. Also, we will debut our first shared player with Aquinas football, Charlie Weinrich. He will spell Welch at the “6,” and put up some 45-yard field goals on Friday.

Scoring has been one of our weaknesses in recent seasons. We expect that moving one of our leading scorers of last year to the “9,” (Parker) will give that stat a boost. We also are excited about wings and what they will bring to the width of the field—all are new to the varsity. Two juniors, Owen Kanakares (Josh Lents’ Tryout Award Winner), and Caden Eames will not only bring pace with a high soccer IQ, but they will bring a connection to some of our great teams from the past as both are relatives of Aquinas greats like Matt Blething and the Latz brothers, and the Gorczyca’s.

We will look for big minutes at the wing from sophomore (Josh Lents’ Tryout Award Winner), Luke Konnesky as well. And Brennan Schroeder will get time wide as well. We also know, despite the fact that he is coming back from an injury back in the Spring, we should see Arquez Morissette this year as well.

We are excited about some freshman who should see some varsity minutes up top some this year as well. Ethan Young, Sebastian Tarboda and Nen Matlock all showed us quite a bit during tryout week, along with this summer.

But of course, we expect our biggest boost in scoring to come from the execution of our set-pieces. This has always been a staple of Aquinas soccer. Deadballs should be one of our strengths this season—and the varsity captains have made scoring on 15 corners a team goal.

Coach Ewing will be in the 32nd and last year teaching at Saint Thomas Aquinas. Coach Hammons is in his 26th, BWhite in his 16th—so we have a lot of tradition in place. Juan Luengo will assist the varsity this season as well, as he spends his 6th season at STA.

Coach Ragsdale will head up the JV for his second season, his seventh at Saint Thomas Aquinas. Caleb Mitchell and Eric Ewing return for their 2nd year running our C-team.

EKL should be a bear as usual.  This league has claimed almost all of the soccer titles in the last five years, and this year looks the same. Bishop Miege and BV Southwest are both ranked in the Top 5 in Kansas, and we know from summer that BV West, St. James (final 4 last year) and BV Northwest should be strong.

We travel again to Iowa, landing once again in Bracket A with some of the best teams in the country, like two-time defending Illinois State Champ and last year’s #2 in the nation, Naperville North. Miege is in the same bracket.

The 810 Classic pits us once again against Dodge City this year. They are always good and almost always part of the 6A final 4.

We all know the key to the season is 5A State, and we also know that only two of 3 great teams will get out of the Northeast side of the bracket and get to go to Spring Hill for the final 4.  EKL powers St. James, BV Southwest and us will battle it out for those two spots. . . but that’s a long way down the line . . . let’s enjoy this season that finishes off this decade. I pray we do.