GREENFIELD — Last year, the Greenfield-Central boys soccer team took some things for granted.
They aren’t likely to make that mistake again. Not with the experience they have.
The Cougars finished the 2018 season with a 14-4 record and a perfect 7-0 run through the Hoosier Heritage Conference, winning their second consecutive conference title and third straight sectional. For most of the season, they were dominant.
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They appear to have learned from the rare times that they weren’t.
“You see that with a loss against Batesville last year. They took the Batesville game for granted,” assistant coach Matt McConnell said. “They come in, they are a 2A school, they’ve gotten drilled by a couple of teams we played … they beat us at home, 1-0. Our boys have had that in them, and they appear, right now, to not have that.”
The Cougars are bolstered by a large amount of returning experience, led by seniors Zack Bell, Caleb Mundell, Tyler Murphy and Trevor Sawyer. Those four have played at the varsity level since they were freshmen, playing in, and winning, three sectional championships together.
Bell is the defending Hancock County Boys Soccer Player of the Year after a 20-goal, 10-assist season. Mundell scored 11 goals and 11 assists. Murphy had 13 goals and 11 assists and Sawyer scored four goals with two assists from the back line.
That’s a lot of firepower returning and a lot of varsity experience to lead the way for the Cougars, though Murphy will miss some time with an injury.
“The drive that Caleb and Zack have leads so much of the team,” McConnell said. “What’s great about them, Tyler Murphy, Brantley Kuntz, all the seniors, they set a bar of workrate that’s really high. They push, and they push, and they push and they push. We have some freshmen who will see some minutes probably on varsity this year, and those guys have just pushed them, hard. That’s the great thing about having guys like that return — they can just continue to set the bar really high. They know what it’s like to be there.”
Most of the Greenfield-Central lineup will be the same as previous years. A few starters have graduated, but the majority are back. That includes five all-county players — Bell, Mundell, Murphy, Jordan Phillips and Abe Buescher.
Buescher returns in net after posting a 1.05 goals against average a year ago. He’s got his coaches wondering where his ceiling could be after an impressive sophomore season and successful spring and summer.
Even though they bring back a ton of experience, the Cougars aren’t expecting a cakewalk through the conference or sectional. They know they’ll need to show up focused and determined in every game to continue their string of success. They can’t take anything for granted.
“Experience always helps. But experience doesn’t automatically equal success,” head coach Bobby Holden said. “The fact is, in our conference and in our sectional, any team can win on any given night. If our boys do not come to play each and every night, our experience won’t mean anything. Hard work and intelligent play are what is going to equal success.”
Senior-driven Marauders
look to take next step
Challenging Greenfield-Central in the experience department are the Mt. Vernon Marauders, who will be similarly senior-driven.
The Marauders had a huge turnout this year, the most athletes the program has seen in more than a decade. With 45 players and more than 20 freshmen, they’ve added a C-team this year.
Those numbers are heavy at the top, as the Marauders expect to field a varsity lineup with 11 seniors, four juniors and a sophomore.
“That part of it is really exciting to see, I think.,” Mt. Vernon coach Matt Mayhew said. “We had open fields in the summer and we averaged 35 or 36 boys. That’s just boys that want to come out and play.”
The challenge for Mt. Vernon will be finding a replacement for the production from graduated standout Tylin Broaders, who scored 21 goals a season ago.
Several players are expected to contribute offensively, and they’ve had plenty of success on that side of the ball before. Jacob Knepper scored 14 goals last year. Drew Heitman, who will move into Broaders’ spot this year, led the team in goals scored with 11 in 2017. Logan Angelopulos scored 14 combined goals in the past two seasons. Brandon Johnson scored nine last season.
All are seniors, and all are expected to play a role again this year.
“I don’t foresee having somebody score the 21 goals that Tylin did, but I think we’ll be able to do it with a committee, and it’s a pretty talented committee,” Mayhew said. “I think with that, sometimes it’s a little bit more difficult to play against — if you’ve got one guy who’s got 21 versus you’ve got three guys who could score 11 or 12, three guys is going to be harder to defend. I think we might have that this year.”
Another senior expected to make an impact in the offense is one that hasn’t played in two years, Spencer Linder. He has finally battled back from two separate ACL tears, one each before his sophomore and junior seasons.
The Marauders also return several defenders, along with their goaltender from last year, as Noah Whitehouse is back for his junior season after posting a 1.09 GAA last year.
They enter the new season with the same goal as always — getting through the sectional. Like Greenfield-Central, they know it won’t be an easy task to bring home the hardware at East Central this season.
Mt. Vernon will learn a lot about itself right away, as they have adjusted their schedule to put several marquee games out front in an effort to get prepared for a grueling HHC slate.
“We moved HSE from the middle of our season and put them number one, coming out of the gate. It’ll be a good test for us right away,” Mayhew said. “We picked up Avon and Warren Central this year, which are a couple other big games before our conference stuff sets in. Hopefully we’ll be well-tested before we get into the dirt and grime of our conference that’s always tough.”
Dragons looking for group effort this season
Like their county counterparts, the New Palestine Dragons also have a lot of seniors on their varsity roster. The difference is a big one, though.
Only a few of the team’s nine seniors have played meaningful varsity minutes heading into 2019.
The Dragons return most of their offensive production from a year ago, with only two goal scorers from 2018 having graduated. The top four scorers are all back, with seniors Jon Moore (five goals), Zach Martin (four) and Owen Hefflemire (two) being joined by junior Colby Sharp (three).
This year, much like last year, the Dragons expect to have a score-by-committee approach.
“Guys are out here putting in the work. It’s not really going to be one person, it’s going to be a collective group effort,” New Palestine coach Justin Sass said. “It’s not going to be one person if we want to be successful this season. It’ll take a group of 14 or 15 guys that are willing to work together and work for each other to get results.”
The Dragons finished 5-11-1 a year ago, their 3-4 HHC mark good for fifth place in the conference. They narrowly lost to Mt. Vernon, 2-1, in the sectional opener.
They return one all-county player in Moore but lose another in goalkeeper Adam Hunt. The Dragons have two players competing for the vacancy in net, but, like the offense, Sass thinks it’ll take a group effort this year to find success in goal.
“I’m willing to put in whoever is playing the best at the given time,” he said. “You can’t really replace a guy like Adam. No matter who I put in there, it’s not going to be Adam. We have two young kids that are really competing for the spot and we’re excited about it.”
As they approach their Saturday season opener against Heritage Christian, the Dragons are still figured some things out. They were strong defensively and in net a year ago, while the offense averaged just over a goal per game.
They won’t know what they’ll have for sure until the games get started, but they are putting in the work and working together to prepare for the 2019 season.
“We’re still trying to find our identity,” Sass said. “We’ve just kind of been working on working together as a collective unit, offensively and defensively, really not trying to individualize the game but work together, blue-collar mentality. Show up, get your work in, 110 percent, and be exhausted by the time you leave the field.”