Soccer preview: Sikeston hoping young talent can fill gaps
SIKESTON -- Though they lost some of their more familiar faces to graduation Sikeston head coach Gabe Dement is excited by the eager, young talent the Bulldogs have fighting to earn positions.
If the Bulldogs can successfully fill those spots while adjusting to a few tweaks on offense, expect to see a similar squad to the ones that have become district contenders on an annual basis.
"That's a lot of holes to fill, but the guys this year are chomping at the bit to prove themselves," Dement said. "They're coachable, ready to learn and play how (we) want them to. I think that's going to help us in the season. It's a coachable group and I feel like they'll be willing to go to battle for our coaches and each other."
With last year's 3-0 loss to Farmington in the semifinals of the Class 3, District 1 tournament came the loss of four big contributors in Audie Hay, Layton Jones, Hunter Taylor and Adam Johnson.
That group helped the Bulldogs to a 12-11-1 record with Hay and Jones contributing a combined 23 goals and 22 assists alone on the year. Taylor and Johnson added another four goals and six assists that the Bulldogs will have to replace.
"Losing those boys, it's obviously always tough to replace them," Dement said. "But you're hoping as coaches that the guys that have been waiting in the wings will be ready to prove they belong just as well as the guys before if not more."
Sikeston returns it's biggest goal scorer in junior Sam Cox, who finished last season with 20 goals and nine assists. He'll be joined by Conner Meredith and Dakota Ray as expected playmakers on offense. Merideth finished last year with seven goals and four assists and though Ray didn't find the net he assisted on a pair of goals.
Defensively the Bulldogs bring back several returning starters, including junior Max Ault in goal defenders Andrew Pearson and Trey Smith. Cam King, Tyler Hawkins and Peyton Kennard should all see plenty of time on defense this year as well.
Ault, Meredith and Pearson have been selected as team captains this season.
Though they're not looking to reinvent the wheel, Dement is planning a slight change in philosophy in his team's plan of attack this year.
"We're going to try to be a little more possession oriented and see if we can keep the ball, work it and find gaps," Dement said. "We want to be patient, try to spring guys up top and try to be clinical in the final third of the field. I feel like at times last year we rushed the ball up field. It wasn't necessary when we could have made a drop pass and switched sides with the ball before we attacked to switch things up and change the plan of attack. So far this year we've been working really hard on trying to do that."
While that may seem less aggressive than their previous style, Dement doesn't expect a drop off in production from his offense.
"It's not necessarily any less goals or anything, but I think that will help," Dement said. "Our defenders will be more involved in passing this year than in year's past. We'll use them to keep the ball. If you can't go forward you have to be willing to go back and switch the point of attack. That's what I'm hoping for."