For the past several years Andrew Post has been a very busy man each spring, coaching both GHS soccer teams. But the athletic department finally made the move to hire another coach, Lukas Shoemaker from Siloam Springs, to take over the boys program, leaving Post with just one team to focus on, the Lady Bulldogs, who finished 7-14 last spring.
But Post is quite bullish on his team’s chances of improvement this season, with seven returning starters coming back. That’s a lot of experience to build on.
“We didn’t lose a lot in graduated seniors,” said Post. “We lost three starters and some players that helped us out off the bench. We definitely return a lot of experience, and I think that’s important. We’ve got eight or nine girls with significant playing time. I think we have a great chance to improve from last year.”
Post also mentioned a change in his defensive scheme. “We’ve installed a new defense this [year], so it’s important that we get experience with that early in the season and work out any issues. We will play some good teams the first part of the season that will test us and help us improve and grow into that system.”
Part of that change includes new personnel at the goalkeeper position. “We’ve got a switch at goalkeeper this year,” he explained.
“We moved Carley [Zirbel] to forward, and we’ve got a couple of girls that show a lot of potential at keeper,” referring to sophomore Camryn Presley and freshman Emory Brewer. “As the season progresses they will get better and better, but there will be some growing pains at first.”
The Bulldogs have some key players back, including Molly Odell, Kaitlyn Frey, and Bella Mora. “It’s going to be a benefit having those three girls back,” said Post.
“Though we lost our leading scorer, we do return a key midfield and defensive player,” he added. “Molly Odell started all games for us at center back, and she is returning in that same role as a sophomore.
“Kaitlyn Frey started many games at midfield, and will be a key player for us this year as a senior.”
Greenwood also returns sophomore Bella Mora at forward.
[She] will also be a player that can help us score goals,” said the coach. “She started many games at forward last season as a freshman. She has a lot of pace and we will look to use that up top to score some goals. I think we’ll be strong in the central part of the field.”
As usual, Post said that Siloam Springs and Russellville will be the main competition both in conference play and in the state tournament.
“Siloam and Russellville are two of the best teams in the state,” he said. “But we play them in conference, so we know what level we have to reach.”
The Lady Bulldogs have already started their season, playing matches against Mena (JV), Holland Hall of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Van Buren. They junior varsity match at home against Mena last Thursday ended in a scoreless tie, and they lost a 2-1 decision at Tulsa on Friday.
This past Tuesday night the Lady Bulldogs hosted the Van Buren Lady Pointers and scored three unanswered goals in the second half for a 3-1 victory.