Girls soccer teams gear up for spring season with jamboree

Mar. 13—CARL JUNCTION, Mo. — Four area girls soccer teams tuned up for spring competition with a jamboree Tuesday in Carl Junction.

Webb City, Joplin and Carthage joined the Bulldogs in abbreviated 25-minute matches.

Bulldogs

The Bulldogs enter the 2024 season with the most momentum, looking to improve on a 19-6 record, but head coach Ed Miller will have to turn to a lot of young players after losing 11 from last year's squad.

"We've got a good core group with us and we have some people who haven't really played a lot of varsity minutes as starters," Miller said of this year's team. "We're working on developing them and getting them where we need them by the end of the year. It's a work in progress."

Among those Miller lost to graduation were two All-Central Ozarks Conference first-team picks in forward Hannah Franks and midfielder Jocelyn Brown, second-teamer Chrissy Figueroa at goalkeeper, and COC honorable mention selection defender Constance Graham.

Replacing Figuero at goalkeeper is sophomore newcomer Jadyn Howard.

"She's never played in her life and she's stepping in for Chrissy Figueroa, which is a big hole to fill," Miller said. "She has great hands and for never having played, she is doing an outstanding job. Each day is a new learning experience for her, and we are expecting great things from her."

Players who also will be key to the Bulldogs' success include senior forward Hailey Merwin, one of Miller's few veterans; Miller said Merwin contributed 14 goals and eight assists to the team last year.

"She put the ball in the back of the net for us last year as well as distributing the ball, and she is looking really good this year," Miller said. "She is getting her head up and finding passes and is doing some really good things in practice for us."

Miller also said senior Sara Buchele should factor prominently in the Bulldogs' success, along with sophomore Ella Anderson, who logged 19 goals and five assists as a freshman starter last year. Anderson missed the last few games of the season last year after suffering a broken leg.

Hannah Burch, who took her junior year off from soccer, returns for her senior year to help the Bulldogs in the midfield.

Carl Junction made it to the district semifinal last year before falling 3-0 to eventual district champion St. Michael the Archangel. The Bulldogs open on the road at Monett next Tuesday. Their first home match will be March 21st against Pittsburg, Kansas.

Eagles

Joplin High School finished 5-12 last season, including a four-game winning streak against Monett, Pittsburg, Neosho and West Plains early in the season.

The Eagles open their season March 26 at JHS, when they host perennial power Nixa before traveling to Monett on March 29 to face the Cubs.

The Eagles, coached by Desmond Williams, will need to find a way to replace All-COC second-teamer Paisley Parker, who helped lead Joplin last year.

CardinalsWebb City was one game under .500 last year at 10-11 after starting its season at 5-0 and outscoring its opponents 19-0 in its first five wins.

Webb City will undoubtedly look to sophomore Dakota DeGraffenreid to help lead the team. DeGraffenreid was a first-team All-COC pick for the Cardinals as a freshman last season and was the only freshman selected to the squad. They also return forward Avery Allen, who was an All-COC honorable mention player as a freshman last year.

The Cardinals' quest for a winning season begins Friday and Saturday at the Lebanon Kickoff Tournament. Their first home match will be against McDonald County on March 25. They are coached by Justin Boudreaux.

TigersCarthage, led by head coach Jessica Marques, finished 9-11 last season and opens its 2023-24 campaign traveling to Springdale, Arkansas, to face Har-Ber, which came out on the winning end of a 3-4 overtime thriller last season in Carthage. That match was one of three on the season that went into overtime for Carthage.

The Tigers first home match will be March 29 against Glendale.

Like Carl Junction, the Tigers were hit hard by graduation last year, losing All-COC first-teamer Daniela Marquez at forward and second-team selections Sonia Lopez at defender and Kianna Yates at forward. The Tigers return Kimberly Monterosso, an honorable mention pick at defender last year as a sophomore.