Warrenton Soccer Battled Youth, Injuries

By Derrick Forsythe, Record Sports Editor
Posted 11/7/19

Growing pains were expected during a season when Warrenton relied on as many as six freshmen to play varsity minutes. “We were going to be a pretty inexperienced team as far as varsity goes,” …

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Warrenton Soccer Battled Youth, Injuries

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Growing pains were expected during a season when Warrenton relied on as many as six freshmen to play varsity minutes.“We were going to be a pretty inexperienced team as far as varsity goes,” said Coach John Schulte. “When you’re bringing up a lot of freshmen to play on varsity, it’s hard for them to adapt to the intensity and speed.” But the Warriors finished just 8-16, losing to Union during the first round of the district tournament. Schulte says the team constantly battled some type of adversity and wasn’t able to achieve its initial goals.“Looking at our schedule and skill level, I thought we could be around .500,” said Schulte. “We ended up falling kind of short.”The Warriors’ wins were sporadic, peppered throughout the season, following an 0-5 start. They claimed just one win in GAC play, an 11-1 triumph over Winfield.That is a mark Schulte hopes to improve dramatically on next season.“It’s disappointing, because we really would have liked to have competed better in our conference,” said Schulte.Warrenton will bid farewell to three seniors but will return its leading scorer.Actually, the Warriors spent the latter half of the season without offensive catalyst Dillen Mayfield. The sophomore scored a team-best 40 points on 18 goals and four assists before suffering a torn ACL midway through the season.“When Mayfield went down, it did hurt us because he’s such a playmaker,” said Schulte. “When the whole team relies on certain kids to step up, and all of the sudden that kid isn’t there anymore, somebody else has to step up and take on that role.”With his departure, seniors Luke Hawley and Zack VanDillen rose to the challenge, netting five and eight goals, respectively.“Those guys did a good job of compensating and filling in wherever we needed them to,” said Schulte.The absence of their leading scorer prompted several changes.“We went to a couple of different formations and dropped some people back,” said Schulte. “We played with no forwards a couple games and tried a lot of things to stop other teams from scoring or get us a lot more offense. We asked kids to play a lot of different positions.”Hawley also collected seven assists, as did Alex Heitgerd, who added nine goals.Carlos Lopez netted seven goals and had three assists.Sophomore Sawyer Junker served as the Warriors’ starting goalkeeper, making 59 saves, while allowing 39 goals. He received relief from freshman Matt Dildine, who was responsible for 14 saves.“He has a lot of intensity and hustle and is smart about what he does,” said Schulte. “I thought he did a fantastic job.”Aside from Hawley and Van Dillen, the Warriors will also lose senior Michael Eskew, who had two goals and two assists this season.“It was kind of an uphill battle most of the season, but I think the kids worked hard and learned a lot,” acknowledged Schulte. “I think it’s going to bode well for the future, because now they have a year under their belts.”

Warrenton's Luke Hawley was one of three seniors on this year's team.

Derrick Forsythe Photo.

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