WHS soccer teams gear up for postseason

  • By Brian Questel of the Wooster Weekly News
  • October 12, 2009
  • 787
                        
The luster was knocked off their seasons some time ago, but even though their seasons are winding down, neither of the Wooster High soccer programs is looking to go out quietly. Both teams opened play last week in the opening rounds of the Ohio Cardinal Conference Tournament, where the girls (4-2 OCC, 6-5-1) drew the fourth seed and the boys (3-3-1 OCC, 4-7-1) were seeded fifth. “I’m a little disappointed … because we should have done better,” said boys’ coach, Brian Hansen. “But, those were the cards we were dealt and what we had to play with. Lexington is obviously the team to beat because no one has beaten them yet, but the 2-3-4-5-6 seeds all have legitimate chances because they are all so even. “I think we’re looking to get the team focused,” he added, noting the team’s lineup has been in a state of flux much of the season because of the number of injuries the team has dealt with. “We solidified the defense when we put Dominic Keller in at goal and played Ryan Carmel at stopper. Todd (Sheron) tore his ACL and we haven’t had him, Matheus DeNardo has been hurt all year, we didn’t have our starting keeper and Evan (Yarnell) hasn’t played all year and he was our starting sweeper. “Our guys have fought through a lot and we’re looking to make a run,” he added. “We played real well at Wadsworth recently and the score is not indicative of how we played. It was 1-0 with 5 minutes to play and it ended up 4-0. We fought hard for 75 minutes and then we had a questionable call in the box … and we quit after the PK (made it 2-0).” The girls have also had their share of disappointments, but are looking to apply some salve to their season. “Overall I like where we are right now,” said girls’ coach Les Wudarzewski. “Like me and everyone else, we had higher hopes, but the reality is our schedule is tough. We’ve played most of our games well, and if you look at our non-conference opponents they are 33-9-10. Two (St. Vincent-St. Mary and Cloverleaf) are state ranked and Medina Buckeye has lost only one game and that was to us. “I think by changing our schedule and making it tougher it will make the girls realize how much harder we have to work. We’re better than last year, but we still have work to do.” Led by sophomore Jen Philippon, who had 13 goals and 3 assists, and senior captain Kristin Elliott (5 goals, 3 assists), Wooster opened OCC play last Thursday against Madison. A win over the Rams would have moved the Generals into a semifinal match against league champion Lexington. “We’re taking it one game at a time,” said Wudarzewski. “We have at least five games to play and things are going to fall the way they are supposed to fall.”


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