They return nine starters from last year’s team that claimed the first girls’ soccer championship in school history. A few of those players even saw time in John Stark’s 2014 title game appearance. But these Generals aren’t concerned about the past.
“We haven’t really talked about that ourselves and I feel like we’re going into it like any other team would this year,” John Stark senior co-captain Cady Loos said. “We definitely have things we need to work on and I think it’s anybody’s game. … We’re taking it one practice at a time, one game at time and just trying to work together and find our groove.”
If the preseason scrimmages are any indication, the defending champs have found that groove. After a pair of scoreless ties in a jamboree last weekend, the Generals ended the day with a 3-1 win. And in their final tune-up before Friday’s season opener at ConVal, Stark played D-I Bedford to a 2-2 tie on Wednesday.
While there are plenty of familiar faces on the Stark team, there are also some significant departures. Gone are leading scorer and three-time First Team D-II selection Brooke Shatney, who is now playing at Assumption College, and Heather Doucette, who had coached the team for the last 11 years.
But the Generals have a cast of experienced players who can help replace Shatney’s prolific scoring, and they have a known commodity taking over as head coach, Chris Pike, who has been Stark’s JV coach for the last three years and also coached in youth programs in Henniker and Weare.
“I feel like it’s been a very smooth transition with the new coach and everybody has gotten used to it very quickly,” Loos said.
“I’ve seen a lot of these kids growing up and coached them through the feeder program,” said Pike, who is from Plymouth, England, and has soccer in his blood. “So a lot of them know the way I want to play.”
Pike will certainly instill his own philosophies with this team, but he’s also keeping the same basic formation the Generals have been using – a diamond four in the back, four in the midfield and two forwards up top.
“The girls are used to that and I like that one,” Pike said. “So I’ll stick with what they know and what I like.”
Pike does plan on using lots of subs this year for a few different reasons. First, the Stark roster is 24 deep, a fairly large number, because there weren’t enough girls to fill out a varsity and JV team. Second, the coach believes he has lots of talent among those 24 players and they deserve time. Finally, he thinks it will help the Generals win games.
“Every game we have the opportunity to run other teams into the ground,” Pike said. “We could field two really, really solid teams and just keep on going. So some of the teams that we’re going to play I think we can just outrun them.”
“I think depth is one of our strengths, definitely, and our foot skills as well,” Loos said. “We have a lot of younger players who are very good with their feet and can get around a lot of people.”
The Generals also have a lot of good older players, starting with their other co-captain, Cara Easter. The senior midfielder was a First Team D-II pick last year and is currently one of 160 girls across the country on the High School All-American watch list.
“Cara is a phenomenal player,” Pike said. “She’s very composed and always makes things happen. She sees the field and is able to distribute cleanly and accurately.”
She’ll have a pair of senior forwards to pass to in Loos and Abigail Brandt, another talented and experienced player.
“Brandt and Loos are devastating together up top,” Pike said. “They read each other and play off each other really, really well.”
Junior Hannah Marquis will spend a lot of time in the defensive central midfield role playing off of Easter, the offensive middie. But Marquis, like many of the Generals, is a versatile player who can fill in multiple roles.
There will be plenty of rotating among the outside midfielders as Pike asks them to run end line to end line, but two who have stood in the preseason are junior Aria Ulmer, a returning starter who scored in the 2016 title game (a 4-0 win over Oyster River) and sophomore Chelsea Woodsum.
The defensive back four will once again be anchored by Meg Blanchette, who Pike described as, “a rock as the sweeper with her speed, ball skills and determination. Not much is getting by her.” Sophomore Chloe Astholz has looked good in the stopper position at the top of the defensive diamond and freshman Meghan Cole has impressed as an outside back, but Pike said the defense is still a work in progress and plenty of girls will see time there.
The Generals also have good depth at keeper with senior Avery Gorham and junior Allison L’Heureux. Gorham is a more technical player while L’Heuruex is more instinctual, but both have played well in preseason and Pike plans on using them both, just like he’ll do with every other position on the field.
“We’re going to play teams where one keeper will be better than the other one,” Pike said, “but they’ll both play and they both need playing time.”
(Tim O’Sullivan can be reached at 369-3341 or tosullivan@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @timosulivan20)