John Raffel
Sports Scene
Nick O’Neil is encouraged by the start from his Alma Panthers girls soccer team.
The Panthers are 4-1-3 after their first eight games.
“I’m pleased with how the season started,” the soccer coach said. “We had a nice win in our championship game of our tournament on Saturday. It’s the first time our girls have won their own tournament so that was exciting for them. I was pleased with how they had performed.
“We’ve had a pretty difficult early season schedule, playing teams like Montrose, Birch Run and Bullock Creek, that have been tough contests for us,” O’Neil added. “There’s a few more ties than I would like, like a 0-0 tie with Ovid Elsie. Overall, I’m pleased with where we’re at.”
Alma was 7-10-4 last year.
“We lost two starters off of last year’s team,” he said. “Both were midfielders. Most of our players are returning starters. We also have a strong freshmen class that came in, a number of girls that are contributing to the varsity early.”
Goalkeeper Abby Schmieder, is a sophomore who already has four shutouts.
“In the games we struggled in last year, she was missing and that had a huge impact on our season, so we’re hoping to keep her healthy,” O’Neil said. “Our strongest defensive players are both senior captains. Calli Ackels is our starting center back and a senior captain. Playing in front of her and holding the midfield spot is Maggie Bever.”
Two returning sophomores and standouts on offense are Sydney Hanson at attacking midfielder and Tia Everdeen, the leading goal scorer from last season as a freshman, and is already at 10 goals. Hanson is leading in points with 13.
“Hansen has taken over the career assist record,” O’Neil said. “She’s going to be up in that number quite a bit over her career.
“We have a couple freshmen that are contributing already offensively. But the other girls are like the backbone of my team, the standouts early on,” he said. “As young as we are, I expect us to get better as the season goes on. We have an extremely difficult district this year. Freeland is one of the most talented teams in the state. Hemlock has probably their best team they’ve ever had, with a number of college level soccer players.
“We’re looking to improve as much as we can from now until districts,” he added. “We hope to compete not only for a divisional championship in our conference but also make some noise in the playoffs as well.”