By John Raffel
Nick O’Neill has been the Alma boys’ soccer coach 11 years, but he won’t forget the 2014 season for a long time.
The Panthers finished with a record of 18-4-1. In league play, they went 8-0 to win the TVC West Conference, the team’s second-ever conference title. The season ended when the Panthers lost in overtime in the district final.
“We’ve had years where we haven’t made it as far in districts, but in terms of record, this was our winningest season,” O’Neill said.
“We had a well-balanced team,” he continued. “Goalkeeping was solid for us all year. We had a lot of nice offensive players who scored some goals as well. The chemistry was really good with this team. I think that’s pretty important to have success.”
O’Neill noted that Alma graduated several key players from last season’s team. “We added a couple of new faces this year, and I thought we had some talent coming back,” he said. “I was cautiously optimistic, that’s the best way to put it.”
Special wins included victories against Freeland – one on the road and one in the district semifinals. “I think those were two good wins for us,” O’Neill said. “We also beat a solid Ovid-Elsie squad twice this year. Those four wins were big ones for us.”
Brendan Bender scored 30 goals, which is an individual season record. He also ended up with 43 total points on the season, another school record. “He was the offensive catalyst; a great offensive weapon,” O’Neill said. “He’s one of those guys that when you needed a goal, he can get one for you.”
Goalkeeper Corbin Kovac had 13 shutouts this season, setting a single season record. “He’s a kid who hadn’t played a whole lot of goalie before this year but stepped in and did a great job,” O’Neill said.
Adam Moeggenborg was a defensive center and “took away a lot of offensive chances to score for other teams by cutting the ball out and getting the ball back the other way. Defense isn’t a glamour position on statistics, but he certainly was a key contributor for our team for this year.”
Jacob Adams was a central defensive midfielder. “He was kind of the pulse of our team,” O’Neill indicated. “He was a physical player in the midfield and a real workhorse, who runs sideline to sideline and presents that physical presence for our team. He’s a good leader for us as well.”
The team improved throughout the season, O’Neill noted. “With high school kids and all they have going on, there can be inconsistencies that pop up from time to time,” he said. “But I really think this team improved from the start of the season to the end of the season.”
There will be some key players that graduate, but some of them will be returning. “We’ll need some young guys to step in and fill in the spots in terms of seniors that are moving on,” O’Neill said. “Some of those young guys will have to step and be contributors.”