Mt. Pleasant, IA- The spring sport season is upon us, ushering everyone back outside and for the girls’ and boys’ soccer teams back on the pitch. The Southeast Conference (SEC) is ready to clash again with the Burlington girls’ team and Mt. Pleasant boys’ team looking to defend their conference crowns. Here’s part one of an early preview of the SEC, as we look at the girls’ teams.
Burlington
Burlington will be aiming to make it four straight years without a loss to an SEC foe after going 9-0-1 and 13-3-2 overall last year, tying Fort Madison 0-0 before shutting the Bloodhounds out 3-0 on senior night. In fact, Burlington picked up an extra win over Fort Madison when the two dueled in the postseason with the Grayhounds sneaking out with a 1-0 victory.
In their 10 SEC duels, Burlington allowed only two goals, while scoring 65 goals. Moreover, Burlington returns six of their top seven goal scorers from last season. The toughest part will be replacing the Pender sisters as Hunter led the team in assists and goals, while Traeh was the main time goalie with an 82.6% save percentage.
Still, the Grayhounds will return four All-SEC First Teamers from last season, including their second leading goal scorer in Kiara Winski, who netted 19, and Kimberly Nelson claimed a save percentage of 89.5% in the 19 shots she saw last year. It will be tough to rock the crown off Burlington this season.
Fort Madison
The Bloodhounds were knocking on the door of upsetting Burlington—even finishing with the same overall record as them—but just could not find the back of the net against the Grayhounds. They had no problem accomplishing that against anyone else, averaging nearly five goals per game.
Nevertheless, their greatest strength was their defense. That defensive unit allowed only 63 shots on goal for an average of only 3.5 shots against per game. While the team only graduated four players from last season’s squad, one of those seniors was SEC Player of the Year in Teagan Snaadt, who led the conference with 36 goals.
Hadley Wolfe will look to step into Snaadt’s role but look for Reilynn Turnbull or Halle Menke to step up or maybe Chloe Butler, who scored three goals as a freshman last season. Ellie Hellman returns between the pipes to help keep stability in the back half of the field.
Mt. Pleasant
Injuries greatly limited the Panthers’ potential last season, as the veteran group was knocked out of the first round of postseason play in upset fashion, totaling a record of 8-6-1 and 5-5 in conference play, getting swept by Fort Madison and Burlington.
The start of the season saw plenty of highs for Mt. Pleasant as they roared out to a 4-0-1 start, scoring 25 goals to just two let up and watching Charice Auwerda break the program’s points record. However, the Panthers fell into a rut, notching only 14 goals in the final 10 games of the year.
Auwerda missed three games, Tori Wilson missed a handful of games, as did a few other Panthers. Now, Mt. Pleasant will have to bounce back after graduating all five of their All-SEC honorees, including First Team goalie Eli Heaton, who stopped over 100 shots on the season.
It is going to be open season for who will step up and fill in the empty roles left behind by the senior class.
Washington
The Demons finished the year with an above 0.500 record for the season but a 4-6 record in SEC play with a sweep of Keokuk and wins over Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant. Aptly, their goal differential for the season sat at -0.4 with an offense that struggled to score goals.
The important part for the Demons is their consistency from last season as they will return three of their top four goal scorers, including Angeline Anderson who netted nine, their leading passer in Luna Cuevas, and their starting goaltender in Aleigha Medley.
Still, the offense is going to have to learn how to score as they were shutout in six of their 14 games last season.
Fairfield and Keokuk
Since the two teams each picked up one win in conference and tied one another in their second meeting for identical 1-8-1 SEC records, we’ll put them together. The Trojans faired better outside of SEC play, putting together a record of 4-3, while Keokuk did not win another game for the year.
Each team had one senior earn a spot on the All-SEC First Team with traces of young talent ready to take over their respective programs. For Fairfield, Emma Metcalf, who led the team with nine goals, and Lexi Mast, who notched 19 points as a freshman, will be names to look out for with a returning goal stopper in Johana Mora.
Defense will have to greatly improve for Keokuk if they want a shot at coming away with a couple more victories as Relina Wong made 199 saves for the season on a 74.8% save percentage. She’s an excellent goalie but needs some help.
Darby Tackes will be the lone senior returning to the roster as she led the team with three goals for the season to go along with an assist. Part of improving the defense will be getting the offense to attempt more than just 47 shots on goal for the season.