With questions about who will become the next offensive playmakers, Coach David Evans is relying on his defense to carry the Warrenton soccer team early in the season.The Warriors opened their campaign by hosting St. Clair and Sullivan in a tournament over the weekend.Warrenton fell against each opponent, despite what Evans considered a promising showing, especially by several newcomers.First-year goalie Julia Crossen shined in the nets, but the Warriors’ offense wasn’t able to provide enough support to collect a win.“She’s been doing a really good job for us,” said Evans. “She stopped quite a few breakaways and kept us in the game. Some of those shots she deflected could have ended up in the goal pretty easily.”The Warriors dropped their opening contest to Sullivan 2-1 and later fell to St. Clair 1-0.Senior Sam Swoboda scored the lone goal.“Right now we’re keeping our games close, but we’re making too many mistakes to give ourselves a chance to win,” said Evans. “We’re still a young team, so a lot of the girls are still trying to figure out each other’s roles.”Warrenton kept Sullivan away from its box for much of the first half, limiting the threat against Crossen.“The Sullivan game was hard fought back and forth on both ends of the field,” said Evans. “We weren’t able to put any kind of offense toward the goal.”The Warriors also faced the Warrenton junior varsity team on Friday, winning 10-0 on Friday night. The JV team stepped in to fill the role of Kirksville, which withdrew from the tournament late.“It was more of a practice match for us,” said Evans. “It was kind of tough on our JV girls, having to come out right away and face three varsity teams.”Evans says he is okay with limiting the oppositions to a total of three goals, which is an improvement over last year’s tournament.“Our defense is already ahead of where we were at this point last season,” said Evans. “We showed that we can compete. Now we just have to figure our offense out.”The Warriors did reveal another offensive contributor on Tuesday, as freshman Brittany Glazebrook scored the only goal in a 2-1 loss to Zumwalt North.“We played well again,” said Evans. “I’ve been pretty pleased with our ball control out of the center mids. We are still working on being able to see and hit the outlet passes.”The Warriors will get another opportunity to take down St. Clair, traveling to face the Bulldogs on Tuesday.

Warrenton's Rachel Hertel boots the ball during the Warriors' loss to Sullivan on Saturday.

Derrick Forsythe Photo.