Firepower: Experience should lead to more scoring

photo by: Mike Yoder

Lawrence High School soccer coach Mike Murphy works with players during an Lawrence High School soccer camp Monday at LHS.

Last year, scoring goals was one of the biggest problems for Lawrence High’s boys soccer team.

Now it’s expected to be one of the team’s strengths.

The Lions, who had more than 40 players practicing on their home field on Monday morning for one of their summer workouts, return plenty of offensive firepower for the upcoming season.

That includes seniors Ebrahim Diagne, Cain Scott, Hosam Aldamen and Avery German-Martinez, and junior Quentin Harrington. Diagne ranked second in the Sunflower League last year with 10 goals.

“I’m really excited because we have, like, seven or eight returning starters,” senior centerback/midfielder Charlie Carr said. “I feel like we can have a really solid team because players have been there. We definitely want a better record than last year, and I think that’s going to be our motivation.”

The Lions had a 4-12-1 record last year, opening the season without a goal in the first four games.

They eventually found their offensive rhythm by the end of the season, but now they are trying to raise expectations and make sure they start the season on a strong note.

“The winning mentality is the most important thing we need to develop,” Carr said. “I think we have the skill, but we just need the desire to win.”

During the last month, the Lions have played exhibition games against Leavenworth and De Soto. They will play three games Saturday in Salina and will travel to St. Louis for a tournament next month. LHS coach Mike Murphy said the St. Louis tournament attracts “some of the top competition in the whole region.”

In exhibition matches, the Lions put more emphasis on development, trying out different combinations in their lineups.

“Both of those (exhibition games), varsity played pretty much the whole first half and then the rest in the second half,” Scott said. “But as a program, overall, we’re looking pretty good. We still have things that we can work on.”

Scott played on a club team with Diagne in the spring, and he hopes that extra experience will translate to the field this fall when they are playing forward together.

“We’ve got a real good attack, I think,” Murphy said. “Now it’s going to be just figuring out how do we want to defend behind that? And most of those guys at least have some experience.”

Defensively, the Lions will likely be led by their core of returners Cameron Guy, DJ Davis, Parker King and Spencer Monninger.

The Lions practice three times a week, and Murphy said they’ve averaged about 50 players on most days, helped by large sophomore and freshmen classes. When they play in scrimmages, they usually split up into two half fields.

“The only challenge with that many kids is just finding enough space for all of the different drills,” Murphy said. “You’d like to have at least some of the drills simulate game-type situations, which requires just a little bit more space.”

With so many players working out in the summer, the Lions believe it will only add to their depth for the season. And they hope they can make the most of this upcoming year.