photo by: David Rodish/Journal-World

Senior defenseman Dylan Kuntz, right, runs to intercept the ball during Baldwin's boys soccer scrimmage on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024, at Baker University.

The soccer field at Baker University had the aura of a regular season game on Friday night. A good family crowd, a pristine turf field and the bright lights made Baldwin High School’s boys soccer scrimmage feel like the official start of the season.

That was by design. The Bulldogs have high expectations for this season, and they have a good sense of what it will take to accomplish that goal, which includes taking advantage of moments like Friday, where they could mimic a game atmosphere in a last big checkup before the regular season starts.

After two seasons as one of the best 4A-1A soccer teams in Kansas — Baldwin had 10 shutout wins each in 2022 and 2023 — this year, the Bulldogs believe they are ready for the championship.

Baldwin coach Matt McCune has a veteran group. The varsity team is all juniors and seniors who have spent years learning the system in high school and in club soccer. The experience they bring is how they’ve been able to be so successful, particularly on defense in the past few years.

“It’s been discipline,” McCune said. “It’s dedication to focus on defensive tactics, and they’re really good athletes and understand soccer.”

Back liners Dylan Kuntz and Leo Schoenberger lead the charge for the defense, and Friday’s scrimmage showed McCune everything he already knew about them: They’re smart, tough athletes.

“(Schoenberger) is tough to get around and (Kuntz) is really fast,” McCune said. “They’re really good anchors to have. They’ve been playing soccer together for a while and under this system for a while, so that’s nice.”

McCune also noted that the defensive prowess didn’t slow when subs were called in, which happened much more frequently than in a typical soccer match. The team’s high number of experienced varsity juniors and seniors show in the depth down the roster.

Schoenberger said that passion is what separates their defense from others. The group is dedicated to the sport and to understanding at a deep level how to defend. There’s also a passion for their teammates, as a lot of them have played soccer together for most of their lives. They understand each other and what it takes to succeed.

With the stringent defense, it becomes imperative for the forwards to find the back of the net when the opportunity arises. That’s where midfielders Cooper Carr and Camden Cox come in. In Friday’s scrimmage, Carr scored four of the eight goals for the varsity purple team, and the junior displayed his natural knack for finding the right moment to strike.

Carr said that the defense takes pressure off of him, because he knows that he will have many chances to score in a game. If the offense can capitalize even just once and score a goal, Carr said the Bulldogs have a good chance of winning that game.

McCune said that Carr is a natural competitor, but it didn’t always seem that way. McCune and the Baldwin coaching staff didn’t expect much from him during his freshman year after watching summer workouts, but once Carr hit the field in a game, everything changed.

“We were like, ‘Holy cow. Where did this kid come from?'” McCune said.

Now a junior, Carr is going to be relied upon heavily to score early and often.

Carr credits his teammates for being able to give him the ball at the right time, but what separates him is the instinctual ability to know when to shoot. His athleticism and instincts have been further refined in his first two years at Baldwin.

The scrimmage ended in an 8-0 win for the varsity purple team against the JV white team, but the varsity group wasn’t satisfied with it.

“It’s going to be the little things (this season),” Carr said. “When we hit a roadblock, we have to get over that hump. And by the end of the year, we have to be playing the best soccer that we can.”

The Bulldogs begin their season at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at Heritage Christian Academy in Overland Park.

photo by: David Rodish/Journal World

Junior midfielder Homer Rice, right, and junior forward Wyatt Herrington battle for positioning during Baldwin’s boys soccer scrimmage at Baker University on Friday, Aug. 23, 2024.