Southmont boys soccer is the midst of a rebuild and coach Stephanie Kennedy knows that some struggles may come this season but at the end of the day it’s about building and progressing towards the future.
The Mounties graduated seven seniors from last year’s squad and will carry just 13 total players this season.
“We most definitely have a younger team but more than that we have a small team,” Kennedy said. “Our numbers this year are low so as a program we will work with the Junior High and continue working with the youth program to hopefully get those numbers back up. When you play 11 on the field, 13 isn’t a lot of room to work with especially for the rigorous sport that we play. Our main focus this year is to continue learning and building. As a team we want to better ourselves and understanding of the game for example we want to be better at ball control under pressure, improving our speed of play and our overall game.”
The Mounties will return goalie Rylan Gayler for his senior year and also have fellow seniors Skyler Wood and Kaden Patton lead the way. Those seniors along with some other returning players will be key for the Mounties as they go through the course of this season.
“Our returning players will be key because we did loose so many leaders from last year,” Kennedy said. “One of the best things I’ve experienced with this group is their willingness to learn and try new things. We have been working hard on finding the right formation for our team with the numbers we have and, they’ve done a tremendous job listening and trying whatever I throw at them. They give feedback to each question I give! It has been amazing. They are a great group of guys and that willingness to get out of comfort zones and work hard will take them along way.”
Southmont opens up it’s 2022 season on Monday with a match against Sheridan.
