While the Wright City boys’ soccer team won just five games last season, everyone involved with the Wildcats heading into 2026 is hoping for much bigger numbers.
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While the Wright City boys’ soccer team won just five games last season, everyone involved with the Wildcats heading into 2026 is hoping for much bigger numbers.
Bigger numbers across the board should be the expectation, according to the shared feeling of those closest to the program.
Junior midfielder Irving Chavira said that to get a bigger number in wins, the team’s offense will also have to put up bigger numbers by finding the back of the opposing net more often.
He said plenty of new faces will help the team in its quest for offensive success.
“I have seen so much new talent in summer and in tryouts,” Chavira said. “I think the bar is higher. I’m looking for a lot of goals, a lot of wins and a lot of excitement. I think that (getting past) 10 wins has to be a goal, for sure.”
Wright City Coach Tori Harris said that freshman Gianni Tiscareno-Sandoval should be one player to help lead that charge.
Harris said the youngster's fundamentals will help him boost his personal numbers while the team's numbers grow.
“I think we’ve gotten even more,” said Harris of the offense’s potential. “We’ve got Gianni, who is a freshman who possesses really good foot skills. We also have a really solid backline. I think we’ll be able to (win games in a variety of ways). Also, Joseph in goal from last year to this year, there is a big difference. Defense wins games, but we also have a good attack, too.”
While the freshman sensation should hopefully provide plenty of flash, the team’s core group of returning players will add their share of substance.
Players such as Joseph Hall, Drew Staats, Marcos Jacinto-Jose, Tony Cortez-Valencia, Chavira, Thomas Wilgus and Zach Frey-Collins should provide plenty of returning depth.
“From last year to this year, I’m super excited,” Harris said. “From last year to this year, we’ve got such a good core of guys coming back. We also have some newcomers who I think are going to make a huge impact on the team. The boys have been working well together and we’re working on a lot of technical stuff. Last year, we only had those five wins and that’s our starting point. We want to work our way up from that.”
While the offense is hoped to grow from a year ago, when the Wildcats averaged 1.7 goals per game, Staats said the defense will play an important role as the team looks to cut into the 5.2 goals allowed per game last season.
“We were sloppy last year,” Staats said. “We’re going to work harder to pass the ball around more and build the attack from the back.”
The Wildcats are scheduled to open play this season at Winfield tonight (August 27) at 5 p.m.
