It should be another good year for high school soccer in southern Denton County, and with playoff teams returning from last year and district realignment, there could be a lot at stake.
With three of the four boys teams making the post-season last year and a number of strong players back, 2013 promises to be a good year for our schools.
Marcus High School coach John Gall has been getting it done for years at MHS, and Gall said he expects his team to make some noise in the playoffs this year.
“We are very much looking forward to the season,” Gall said. “The offseason has gone very well.”
To repeat on the kind of success the Marauders enjoyed in 2012, Gall said it will take something that unfortunately has eluded his team in recent seasons.
“Consistency is what we’ve been missing the past few years,” Gall said. “This is something that we’ve identified and is something that we’ve worked tremendously at during this offseason.
“The players have been very consistent in their approach and application, and we are positive that we can transfer this into the season.”
Marcus finished last season with a 7-3-4 mark last year in district competition and third place finish.
Gall said he expects three players to lead the way for Marcus this year, including Alex Totilo, Haiden Stiles and Tyler Mouton.
“They have great experience as being starters and team leaders a year ago,” Gall said. “They understand the expectations and standards and have set their sights on finishing their high school career on a high.”
Over at Flower Mound, Coach David Doyle believes that Coppell is the team to beat in district this season with Marcus not far behind.
Doyle said his team will have some issues this season when it comes to the team’s youth.
“Having lost 16 seniors from last year’s team, we will be very inexperienced this year,” Doyle said.
“Even our kids returning are young so leadership will be an issue but hopefully when we start playing some of the seniors will step into a leadership role.”
Flower Mound also had a 7-3-4 mark in district last year, and Doyle said his goal for his team this season is to “sneak into the playoffs.”
The Guyer boys soccer team made the post season last year as well, but lost in the opening round to Plano by a score of 2-0.
Guyer finished fourth in district 7-5A competition last season, and should benefit from competing in a lower division this coming season.
The Wildcats finished last season with a 12-7-4 record.
For Argyle coach Daniel Lundy, his first year in his new position is one of uncertainty, but the Eagles coach said he has liked what he has seen so far early on.
“Being new this year it has taken me a while to get used to the players,” Lundy said. “I have to say that they are farther along than I expected them to be at the start of the season. We may not have the huge numbers as our district opponents, but I believe we have a very talented core group of players.”
Argyle finished fourth in district competition last year and advanced to the post-season, where it defeated Gainesville in their bi-district round match up.
Lundy said he believes his team is capable of repeating last season’s performance, and said he believes that help will come from a lot of different sources this year.
“I believe that we have a number of players that will contribute greatly to this team,” Lundy said. “We are led by our three seniors Nathan Dealy, Connor James, and Trey Torno. I expect Brain Williams, Ben Irons, Wade Barton, and Seth Fountain to be big contributors. ”
Lundy said his expectations for this season are quite high, given the players he has coming back.
“I expect this team to compete not only for a playoff spot, but to be one of the top teams in the district,” Lundy said. “We have scheduled some tough pre-district opponents so as to test ourselves prior to district play.”
In order to have a good season and make the playoffs, Lundy said it will take a couple of things from his team.
“We will have to bring a group of players together that do not have much experience playing with one another in the pre-district and hope that we can stay healthy,” Lundy said. “We will have some freshman and sophomores that will need to be able to contribute in order for us to be successful.”
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