SPRING OUTLOOK: Park Hill South Girls Soccer

With a 22-4-1 record last year, Park Hill South girls soccer was one of the top teams in the metro on their way to the best record in school history. This was pretty impressive given the number of talented teams they’ve had over the years. But as had happened the two previous years, the Panthers’ postseason was cut short once again by Liberty. Liberty went on to win the state championship last season, but the Lady Panthers, with a strong group of experienced seniors, hope 2012 is the year they break through for their own shot at the title.

“We’re hoping we can get over the hump and continue this year where we left off last year,” Coach Joe Toigo said. “Every year the goal is to get to state. We won’t downplay Liberty at all, Kearney will be good too, but we need to take it a game at a time.”

So far, out of the Panthers’ eight seniors Katy Riojas (21 goals, 13 assists in 2011), Haley Shelton (4 goals, 9 assists), and Katy Lindsey ( 6 goals, 10 assists) have decided they will continue their soccer careers past this spring in college next year. Abbey Johnson brings her 13 goals back from last season as well as seniors Hannah McMachen, Crystal Lenhert, Tedi Sanchez, and Emily Jimenez who will also be contributing.

Also returning are juniors Courtney Claassen and Emmy Hanlon who scored 30 and 18 goals respectively last year. Goalkeeper Jessica Lee along with Alysa Guzman, Ashton Anderson, Samantha Carpenter, and Sophie Moody also hope to add quality minutes for a Panthers squad which on the surface appears it will have plenty of experienced scorers returning. In a low scoring game like soccer, that can have its advantages.

“Soccer is one of those games where it’s really hard to score. If you can game plan and do things, a lesser team can easily beat a favorite, more than most other sports if the other team has a bad night finishing,” Toigo said. “That’s the bad part about soccer and the good part about soccer if you always have a chance.”

While Toigo knows he has talent to work with this season, he believes improving on last year comes down to converting scoring opportunities closer to the net.

“We want to be better in the final third of the game. We’re a good possession team, pretty good defensively, but we have to be more efficient when we get toward the last 30 yards of the field,” Toigo said. “When you get into closer games, those opportunities don’t come as easily, especially in the playoffs.”

Park Hill South hopes to be hitting their stride once they hit the Blue Springs South Tournament in mid-April which will lead them into the heart of their conference schedule and into district play.