Teams around the state will hit the field, court and course Monday as the 2020 fall season gets underway.
This is our first story in a series previewing the upcoming fall sports. Over the next several days, cross country, volleyball, soccer and football will be highlighted. Girls’ soccer is the next story in the series.
Daviess County (21-4) ran through the 3rd Region (12-0) and the 9th District (8-0) last season but after losing its top three scorers, the Panthers will have to reload to repeat a region title.
The Panthers made it to the second round of the state tournament last season before falling to eventual state champion Greenwood but DC will have a chance at revenge Sept. 24 against the Gators.
Owensboro Catholic (10-9-1) finished second in the district last season as Owensboro took the third spot after finishing 3-12 overall. Apollo is looking for its first win since 2018.
Apollo – Head coach Dave Woeste
What’s your outlook for the season?
We have worked very hard in the offseason and look forward to playing in the next week. The girls played indoor futsal at SportsTutor. We also did lifting and spring speed and agility workouts. A lot of emphasis on the repetition of techniques. We are improving slowly but surely.
Who are your key returners?
We have seven returning seniors. Allysa Lawrence, Caitlyn Blandford, Skylar Preston, Bway Paw, Hser Mwe, Shi Poe and Kailee Quisenberry are all back for the E-gals. Johanna Hutchinson is our starting sophomore returning goalkeeper. We have a group of young and experienced freshmen who played on our JV last season as eighth-graders. They are Kaitlynn Green, Ella Hayden, Jolie Foster and Alana Rone.
What is something you’ve noticed your team needs to work on?
We continue to work very hard on ball control. Some of our girls are just in their second year of soccer. This is something we have worked on and continue to emphasize.
What do you need to do to be successful?
We need to be more offensive in our thinking and actions. We played much defense last season to survive. I believe we will have more offense this season and take more chances going forward.
How has COVID-19 changed the way you prepared for the season?
A lot of running and skills training this spring and summer. Much has gone into our daily preparation. Temperature checks, spraying hands with sanitizer along with spacing out six feet while setting up has been difficult on the girls’ socialization. We have been very cautious and well disciplined to keep safe. We continue to prepare for the upcoming season but have only just begun tackling this past week. The girls have been very anxious to tackle and play the game.
Daviess County – Head coach Doug Sandifer
What’s your outlook for the season?
Our goal every year is the same. We hope to progress to the point we are able to compete in the postseason. We know we will have some growing pains due to graduating 12 seniors, but we have a solid returning core and some talented young players.
Who are your key returners?
Senior Mackenzie Sweatt started last year as a defender but will move into the midfield this year. She has a non-stop motor and we look for her to link our team together. Senior Avery McNeiley is our leading returning scorer. We look for her to continue that. She is extremely quick and can finish with both feet as well as provide service for other players. Junior Emma Patterson is back for her third season as starting goalkeeper. Emma is very quick and aggressive and is a very vocal leader in the goal.
Junior Steeley Walker is our second-leading returning scorer and will play a big role in our center midfield. She started in our state quarterfinal game last season and performed very well. Seniors Danielle Carpenter and Junior Brooklyn Vincent will provide leadership and consistency in our defense. Juniors Maci Sanders and Shelby Sandifer will operate in our midfield and at striker. They both scored some big goals for us last year and we expect the same this fall.
Any newcomers that could make an impact?
Junior Maddie Barrow will provide a great deal of energy and work rate in our defense. Junior Taylor Keener should be a contributor at striker. Sophomore Brooke Schwartz is a very athletic, physical player who we hope will provide some offensive firepower this fall. Sophomores Reagan Chinn and Haley Bradshaw should be contributors in our midfield.
Freshmen defenders Mia Griffin, Jessie Harwood, Mary Wesley Wiman and Striker Liz Burgan should provide depth. Goalkeepers Delaney Bond and Emily Baughn should see minutes and show a lot of potential.
What is something you’ve noticed your team needs to work on?
We look to develop soccer players so while we are identifying how we can grow as a team, we will continue to work daily on our technical skills.
What do you need to do to be successful?
We need to defend and attack as a team unit. We have to remain compact defensively and counter-attack quickly when possible.
How has COVID-19 changed the way you prepared for the season?
Certainly, a shortened preseason and no scrimmages hurt. No one has been able to see their team in a 11v11 situation and that makes it difficult to know what needs to be done.
Owensboro – Head coach Michael Lovett
What’s your outlook for the season?
It’s a different kind of season. We hope to compete at a higher level than in the past few years, but this is 2020 so our main goals are to stay healthy of COVID, limit our injuries and hope to make it through the season unscathed.
Who are your key returners?
Key returners for us are goalkeeper Chandler Worth (SO), forward Ella Bratcher (JR) and defenders Abby Warren (JR) and Abby Beck (JR).
Any newcomers that could make an impact?
I think freshmen Sydney Lovett and Olivia Wilkins will have a solid impact on our season. Both come to the program with excellent backgrounds in soccer and are ready to help produce positive results for us.
What is something you’ve noticed your team needs to work on?
I think for any team communication cannot be addressed enough and we certainly need to improve in that area. Also our finishing prowess as we just couldn’t find the net in 2019 as much as we should’ve so hopefully we can score more goals this year.
What do you need to do to be successful?
We need better communication, more confident defending, and to capitalize on the chances we make for ourselves in front of the opponent’s goal.
How has COVID-19 changed the way you prepared for the season?
COVID has shown there is more to life than sports. Since March, we have been virtually interactive with each other through Zoom meetings and Nike Run Club app in order to help their mental health and keep them as active as we could. It’s been extremely challenging to maintain focus and a positive outlook for anything and I think overall we have done a good job at focusing on the positives and controlling our controllables.
Owensboro Catholic – Head coach Andy Hines
What’s your outlook for the season?
We want to get back to where we were a few years ago to the state tournament and back to being a top program. This group is young, athletic, and talented. They are hungry to compete and win. Our goal is to get better each game and compete throughout the year.
Who are your key returners?
There are several top returners for the Aces this season as junior Ashton Logsdon (10 goals, 7 assists), sophomore Ella Goetz (6 goals, 6 assists), sophomore Katie Riney (3 goals and 4 assists), sophomore Maddie Hayden (1 goal, 4 assists), along with junior Emilee Cecil, are all back for OC. Senior Emmy Moore and sophomore Rachel Traylor will lead the backline with senior goalkeeper Megan Goodwin.
Any newcomers that could make an impact?
We have an exciting freshmen class coming in of nine girls that all can play and impact our team. The addition of two new faces, sophomores Corrie Milem and Gracie Johnson, will also see minutes this season.
What is something you’ve noticed your team needs to work on?
I think the biggest thing we need to work on is learning how I want us to play. Being a new coach this year with a new way to play and minimal time to practice, my ideas will take some time and work.
What do you need to do to be successful?
We need time and patience. I believe we have a talented, athletic group, but under the circumstances, we haven’t been able to work as much on how we want to play this year because of the restrictions on the season. We start the season on the road at Daviess County, Castle and Evansville Reitz. Castle and Reitz will be eight games into a season, unlike Kentucky schools. The girls understand that it could be rough right off the back, but we are building to compete down the road.
How has COVID-19 changed the way you prepared for the season?
It has been tricky. With not knowing what was going on, we didn’t want to burn the girls out. We spent the majority of the summer only practicing individual ball work 2x a week. If we didn’t have restrictions, we would have spent more time learning how to play, but now we only have about two weeks to get ready for the season. We spent the first week defending and the second on the attack. We will then build off those concepts during the season.
