By Derrick ForsytheRecord Staff WriterEager for his team to improve in several areas, David Evans found one to be significantly better than the others during his final season as head coach of the Warrenton girls soccer team.The Warriors experienced their best conference finish in Evans’ tenure, going 4-5 to tie for third place in the GAC. But they managed to finish just 6-15 overall, losing seven straight games after a 3-5 start.“I thought with the personnel we had we would have a better win-loss record than we did,” said Evans. “I think the girls played hard, but we just didn’t have favor in some of the games, and it showed.”Warrenton relied strongly upon two players for the bulk of its scoring.Sophomore Colleen Bayer had initially played in the middle of the field but was asked to move to forward to provide an additional scoring threat.“Colleen had a tough time adjusting to forward at first,” said Evans. “She went back to her club team and played forward, and that really paid off for us.”She delivered by scoring a team-best seven goals, tying classmate Brittany Glazebrook for most points scored.“Brittany is one of our key players,” said Evans. “She’s a strong player who plays with a lot of confidence. She and Colleen made a good pair up top and worked well together.”The Warriors had seven players contribute at least one goal this season, with Macie Sommer responsible for two goals and a pair of assists.“Macie stepped up and filled in at the center mid spot,” said Evans. “She did a good job of distributing and was aggressive about getting to the ball.”Bayer and Glazebrook both earned first-team All-GAC honors, while Sommer was named to the second team along with senior Rachel Hertel.“She started to be able to control the ball a lot more and put passes together this season,” said Evans.Warrenton also relied strongly upon first-year goalkeeper Kalee Kelly, who returned to the team for her senior season after time away from the sport.“Kalee did a good job of making a lot of stops for us,” said Evans. “She’s not an overly tall player, and if you look at the balls that were scored on her, a lot of them were played high.”Evans was excited about the Warriors’ potential at making a postseason run, given their favorable No. 3 seed that set up a rematch with Hannibal. But Warrenton wasn’t able to play them as tightly as it had during the first meeting, watching its season come to a close in the first round.“The girls had great chemistry this season,” said Evans. “They worked well together, but we just fell short.”
Samantha Douglas works the ball up the field against Wentzville Liberty. The Warriors went 6-15 this year and finished in a tie for third in the GAC standings.
Derrick Forsythe photo.
