After coming up one game short of the final four in each of the last two seasons, the Nixa Lady Eagles girls soccer team hopes this is the year they get over the hump.
“Our expectations are high,” said Nixa coach Evan Palmer, now in his 19th year. “We want to get back to the Final Four (2013) after coming one game short the last two years, but the road there will be extremely difficult.”
Last year, Nixa navigated the path fairly easily, taking first place (7-0) in the challenging Central Ozark Conference-Large Division and finishing 22-4 overall. The Lady Eagles won the Kickapoo Tournament, beat Ozark 2-0 in the district championship and Central 7-0 in sectionals before falling to Lee’s Summit 2-1 in the Class 3 quarterfinals.
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Although the Lady Eagles bring back a majority of their roster, they did lose six key seniors to graduation. Midfielder Shalynn Thomas, who scored 18 goals and added 16 assists last spring, graduated along with midfielder/defender Allie Pritchett, midfielder Alyson Galler, defender Lindsey Frerichs, defender Mackenzie Wheeler, and keeper Josie Gregory.
“From graduation, we lost the most from our back line that gave up only 17 goals last year,” Palmer said. “We do have six starters back and many others that got valuable experience on varsity last year. We have a lot of our scoring back, so we should be very tough to keep out of the net for our opponents.”
Returning for Nixa are six seniors, including keeper Hannah Todd, who only allowed 16 goals in 20 games last spring, defender/midfielder Kalie Huff, defender/forward Daley Townsend, midfielder/forward Jena Cauble, forward Katelynn Pittser, and defender/midfielder Brooke Lannutti. Pittser scored 14 goals last year while Cabule added 11 goals and 11 assists.
Nixa’s best goal-scoring threat comes from the junior class, where forward/midfielder Alex Johnson found the net 27 times last year with 11 assists. Other returning juniors include midfielder Maycie Palmer, defender Gracie Gimlin, defender Sammi Hargis, forward/keeper Bailey Hunsicker and midfielder/forward Autumn George. Sophomore midfielder/forward Chloe Cash is the lone returning player from her class.
Newcomers to the team include senior defender Paige Gerkin, junior forward Abbie Brandt, junior forward Beth Johnson, as well as a group of four freshmen: midfielder/defender Erin Crawford, midfielder/defender Erica Hartley, defender/midfielder Hannah Lannutti, and midfielder/forward Maddie Pritchett.
“Our district is the toughest in southwest Missouri,” Palmer said. “Both Kickapoo and Ozark will be better than they were last year and add to that a tough Joplin team means we will have our work cut out for us. If we can stay united as a team and work on playing our roles to the best of our ability, we’ll have a great chance to win districts and move forward from there.”
