The Wright City girls soccer program is seeing a boom in numbers in Jacob Wallace’s first year at the helm of the program. 

The Lady Wildcats have 37 players in the soccer program, the most in the program’s short history. Wallace said they are inexperienced overall. About half of the players have not played true competitive organized soccer before. They do have a couple players that have played competitive soccer for a long time. 

“It makes it a challenge to kind of differentiate in practice because we have a mixture that you are building up the skill level of those ones who are just learning how to play but also challenging the ones that have played competitively for a long time,” Wallace said.”

Wallace said the strong numbers will help the Lady Wildcats be able to utilize substitutes when needed. 

Wright City returns three senior starters from last year’s 10-win team. Cassandra Reash returns after starting last season as Wright City’s goalie. Alex Sutter and Abigail Unterreiner also return for the Lady Wildcats. Sophomores Paige Kirn and Paige Rees return after starting at midfield as freshmen. 

“We have a couple sophomores who have really just taken on some leadership roles and run with them,” Wallace said. “And they’ve been incredible leaders. It’s really exciting to see both leadership from the senior level with the upperclassmen but also that leadership for the younger kids.”

Wallace anticipates the Lady Wildcats will implement a balanced attack. He wants Wright City to press when it is smart to do so but also be intelligent about possessing the ball. They want to get the best looks they can on the offensive end without opening up opportunities for opponents on the defensive end of the field. 

One of Wallace’s main goals for Wright City this season is to be competitive and stay competitive in each game they play. 

“Whether that be playing a team tough that we historically haven’t played tough before,” Wallace said. “Or performing well against the opponents that we have historically played well against. I think for us, it’s going to be about setting a standard for our play and then making sure we always meet that standard. And see where the wins and losses fall after that.” 

Wright City competed in the Jamboree earlier this month. They are scheduled to open the season with a home game against Mexico High School at 4:30 p.m. Monday.