Preseason Take for Year 36 of Saint Thomas Aquinas Boys' Soccer

 Swinging for State

Tho' much is taken, much abides;

and Tho' we are not now that strength

which in old days

Moved earth and heaven, 

that which we are, we are;

One equal temper of heroic hearts,

Made weak by time and fate,

But strong in will to Strive, to seek

to find and not to yield.

                         -Tennyson, "Ulysses."

Many times throughout the year, Coach Hammons, my 30-year, varsity assistant coach will send me something that just rings true at the right moment. I think it was mid-July after we had completed our camps and our summer workouts, I got this excerpt from Tennyson's famous work, "Ulysses."

Yes, we did graduate a boatload of great soldiers who battled to plant the shield firmly at the top at the end of the season. All-Staters, Barrett Kitts, Ethan Young, Anthony Consuegra and Gabe Garcia—and their fine goalkeeper, Andrew Seger are all gone. And it seemed that they could move "earth and heaven," as they captured a state title in 2020 and two 3rds, in 2021, and 2022.

But we are still here, "strong in will to [s]trive, to seek to find, and not to yield." Yet, we enter the season for the first time in decades without a preseason All American; we don't have one player even mentioned in the "players to watch" in the state of Kansas. 

Granted, "much [has been] taken," but "much abides." I just look at our backline and our goalkeeper. We bring back both of our centerbacks, John Weinrich and Cooper Welsh. Both should be players to watch in Kansas. We were up 1-0 against undefeated Maize South last season in the state semis with 14 minutes left to play—they barely had gotten a shot off—and that's when John Weinrich was carted off the field for the rest of the game that then ended 3-2.

Junior Miles Laws will man right back, and he is a Kansas player to watch as well. (Watch him score some goals with his head and watch him assist on some giant lofts to the back post." Look over at left back where junior Bobby Bjorseth is back for his third year of starting varsity—this guy has a throw that will make you ask for a replay.

And we will bring in seniors Hunter Noravong and Christopher Kluck, and play will not drop off. George Guagliano will start in goal. He comes in as our most improved player from last season. He will bring center midfield foot skills to the goalie position, great hands and good distribution skills. We will have Maverick Farrar, a talented 6'2" athlete who impresses more each day to back up George.

Midfield is probably where we will most need to sharpen our irons, as it will look completely different from what we had last season. Andrew Muckerman will be back some time in the final half of the season (coming back from a torn ACL), but Kitts and Garcia have graduated. 

Joesph Befort and Alex Bissen will finish the midfield triangle that will start with Spencer Ragan at its point. All three are juniors, and all have been playing with one another all summer, and we love what we have seen so far.

Muckerman will return, but not until most of regular season has exhausted itself. We will need good minutes from sophomores Jacob Zinkus, Owen Kitts or junior, David Weinberg, to firm up midfield for us.

We graduated a lot of fire power up top, but we really still have that quality or better returning. Junior Nathan LeBourveau will man left wing, with senior striker Liam Ryan moving in from wing to take over the '9"—he can fill it up. And with the likes of sophomore Jayden Janeway, junior Omar Sarmiento, and seniors Hayden Reboulet and Adi Yibikal, we do seem loaded with firepower. And that's not even counting sophomore, Brody Seibert, who is a star in the making.

We bring back virtually all of the staff from last year. Brian White, who had been just a huge piece of Saints Soccer for 20 years, will be the varsity assistant at Sumner Academy this year. He will be missed. Tim Zande, Aquinas Alum, current Advancement Director, former Aquinas JV coach and a former Saint Thomas Aquinas player, will take B's place. 

Eric Ewing will now direct the JV in his 6th year coaching for STA, with Will Ragsdale directing the C-team and helping with varsity in his 11th season with Saint Thomas Aquinas soccer. Juan Luengo, former Penn State player, is back for his 10th season, and he will be in charge of our technical training.

I and the school are entering year 36, with Coach Hammons at my right hand for year 30—"perhaps not now the strength of what we were in the old days," but so ready to go once again.

We are very excited about our new Saints Soccer Classic in early September that brings in 3 very good teams for a round Robin—national power, Dodge City, Missouri power, Lee's Summit West, and 6A state qualifier, Manhattan.

We travel to Top 10 in the Country, Rockhurst in our second match of the year. We are also headed to Springfield Missouri this season for a late September tournament that pits us against two quality Springfield teams and Nixa.

And don't worry, the EKL will be as strong as ever, and holds two of the teams, BV Southwest and St. James that will have a lot to do with whether or not we return to the final four. 

This year's STRIPEOUT begins our journey against the highly regarded, St. James. That expected crowd of 3,000 should not only raise money for fighting ALS, but also, raise our spirits to begin this quest.

The State Final 4 is back at Spring Hill High School this year, the location where we claimed our 17th state title in 2020. We are hoping that "one equal temper of heroic hearts" can bring us back there in early November!  This season will be quite an odyssey.