Head Coach Tyler Woods, assisted by Ryan Lensing, and their Greenwood Bulldogs are about to kick off another soccer season with Monday’s official opener at home against the Sand Lizards of Dardanelle. That will begin a busy stretch of five matches in six days, with all but one played on the friendly turf of Smith-Robinson Stadium on the GHS campus. The Bulldogs travel to Farmington next Thursday, March 2nd, then host a four-team round-robin tournament on Saturday.
Conference play begins March 10th at Russellville, one of the perennial favorites to win the league crown. Along with Siloam Springs, Van Buren, Mountain Home, and now newcomer Harrison, the Cyclones have one of the best boys soccer programs in the state, with numerous state titles to back it up.
In fact, 2013 was the last season another school (Searcy) won the state title other than a team from the West in what is now Class 5A, either Russellville (five titles) or Siloam Springs (two titles), while Van Buren has played in the last two championship games, winning in 2021. Russellville is the reigning state champ, and the title match has featured only teams from the West over the last eight years, including Greenwood in 2014, suffering a 1-0 loss to Russellville.
Those staggering results clearly indicate the absolute monster status of the 5A West when it comes to boys’ soccer in Arkansas. It’s probably the best league in the state across all classifications. It’s almost a given that Russellville and Siloam Springs are going to claim the top two spots and playoff berths at the end of the regular season.
Van Buren dropped down from Class 6A two seasons ago and still has a premier program despite losing numerous seniors to graduation. League newcomer Harrison also has a long tradition of quality boys soccer, and Mountain Home reached the state championship game as recently as 2017. That could leave Greenwood, Alma, and Greenbrier on the outside when it comes to qualifying for the four post-season slots awarded to the conference. At best, five teams will likely be battling for that fourth playoff spot come late April.
Last year the Bulldogs finished around the .500 mark (6-7-6) and those six ties proved detrimental to Greenwood qualifying for the postseason. This year they will need to convert some of those ties into wins to put themselves in position to capture that last playoff spot. Coach Woods and his players are optimistic they can improve enough to make that move in 2023.
But before the season began, the Bulldogs spent some time at Camp Winnamocka in Clark County near Arkadelphia. Activities included canoeing, climbing, fishing, and more. It’s one of those special times that teenagers cherish and remember for the rest of their lives. It’s a time to safely push some boundaries and get out of their comfort zones, exploring new things while building trust and teamwork.
Last Monday the Bulldogs hosted Sallisaw (OK) in a benefit match at Smith-Robinson Stadium, with the financial proceeds going to support the catastrophic insurance fund of the Arkansas Activities Association. The GHS boys won that contest handily, 6-2, after leading 5-1 at the half. Senior Ben Pschier scored three goals for a rare hat trick. Seniors Ralph Meeker, Steven Duran, and freshman Christian Campbell also scored solo goals.
“Our guys played really well, and everybody got to play,” said Coach Woods. “It was a good tune-up. [Sallisaw] had some good quality players. We’ve got some good quality players ourselves, and we were excited to see what we could do against another team. It was a lot of fun to get to play and see some of our guys show out. It was a good start for us, and hopefully we built some confidence. It was really good.”
According to their head coach, the leadership and play of three GHS seniors, all starters, will be pivotal to his team’s success this coming season. Those players are Ben Pschier, Ralph Meeker, and Steven Duran, with forwards Pschier and Meeker being counted on to ignite the Bulldogs’ offense this spring. Junior varsity player Jesus Garcia is the team’s fourth senior in a small graduating class. There are seven juniors on the roster, six sophomores, and nine freshmen.
“Those are our three captains,” said the coach of his three starting seniors. “They’ve been with us the longest – since eighth grade probably. Their freshman year was the Covid year (2020), and they lost a year of development, but they’ve made up for it. They’ve worked and worked and they are just three guys that love the game. They love being on the team and they love each other. We really love having these two guys, Ralph and Ben up top, and Steven in the center has been awesome for us. Having some of your best players as your captains really makes a difference on your team. They are going to be hard to replace next year.”
Perusing the roster, Coach Woods said, “We’ve also got a pretty strong junior class,” which includes a total of seven players, Alex Pittman, Bodey Steinfeldt, Brandon Coston, Carson Hobbs, Christian Wheeler, Peyton Presson, and Tucker Wooten. Three of them will start, including Steinfeldt, Wooten, and Brandon Coston. Steinfeldt has dropped some weight and improved his speed and skills on defense and keeping possession. Wooten is left-footed, which is always a plus, and will help the team transition from offense to defense, while Coston serves as the team’s goalkeeper and may be the best overall player on the squad.
Hobbs is a first year player and lacks experience, but brings a lot of speed and athleticism to the team. Pittman was one of the team’s most improved players last season, according to Woods, and should continue to get better this spring. Presson is a talented three-sport athlete who has battled injuries in both football and basketball and is currently rehabbing an ankle injury. Wheeler is aggressive and will provide some varsity minutes this season in relief of the starters, said the coach.
As for the team’s six sophomores, Hudson Meeker and Braycen Austin are potential starters with a lot of upside as they mature. “We’re hoping that both [players] come along and [develop] better vision and technique on the ball and start getting more comfortable learning the defense. But we’re going to have to use both of them regardless,” said Woods.
David or D. J. Coggin was a starter last season as a freshman. “He was big for us last year,” said his coach. “He’s a cross country kid and did really well for us. He’s a smart kid and has some good leadership qualities. He’s going to be really important for our success this year. He plays outside midfielder for us.”
Corbin Lamb will see some limited varsity time subbing in for starters to give them a breather. Newcomers Keaton Whisenhunt and Vu Mai will play on the junior varsity this season while gaining experience and improving their skills, said Woods, rounding out the tenth grade class.
But the largest class of Bulldogs are the freshmen – nine in total – including Christian Campbell, Sean Jackson, Laydn Casanova, Jett Burgess, Isaac Trice, Davin Cheek, Eli Bazar, Parker Greenway, and Sebastian Acivedo. Out of necessity, two ninth-graders started the match against Sallisaw, but one of them has already earned a starting spot with the varsity. His name is Christian Campbell, and Coach Woods is quite high on his talent and potential.
Along with almost everyone else in the team’s freshmen class, Campbell came through the Under 14 program established by Woods a couple years ago and managed by Austin Harvey, the U14 coach. “Christian stands out because of his speed and he has pretty solid touch [on the ball]. He’s pretty quiet right now and he’s still developing confidence in himself, and that’s [something] I’ve stressed with him. He’s learning and he’s a hustler and we’re going to need him this year.
“The other freshman who started [against Sallisaw] was Davin Cheek,” said Woods. “He’s another kid that played for Coach Harvey, and he did really well. We played him the entire first half and he did a good job staying in front of everything. He has a chance to turn into a solid defender if he will just keep growing, getting stronger, and learning the fundaments of defense.
“Sean Jackson has been in basketball, and he plays midfield,” the coach explained. “He’s a pretty solid player, but obviously this whole class needs to get in the weight room.” Laydn Casanova plays both football and soccer, and Jett Burgess has fallen in love with soccer though he is a first year player, said the coach of his backup goal keeper.
“Isaac Trice is another one who played for Coach Harvey and he did well [against Sallisaw],” said Woods. “Eli Bazar is a left-footer who played for Harvey and they actually won their league tournament against teams [that included] Fort Smith, Alma, and Charleston. So, this class has some potential.” Two other late arrivals include Parker Greenway, who has shown improvement and promise, and Sebastian Acivedo, who also plays lineman on the junior high football team.
After this week’s matches at home against Dardanelle on Monday and on the road at Farmington on Thursday, the Bulldogs will host their own round-robin tournament against Cossatot River, Prairie Grove, and Gentry. Each team will get a chance to play the other three throughout the day on Saturday and it is a boys event only.
As for the conference race, which begins the following week against Russellville, Woods chose his words carefully, understanding the risk of underestimating the strength of the league’s other teams. “We lost Vilonia and added Harrison this year, and they have been good in soccer for a long time,” he said. “They will probably be one of those teams competing for the fourth [playoff] spot.
“I think Russellville is going to be the favorite this year in our [conference] and classification,” the coach continued. “Then Siloam Springs and possibly Greenbrier or Van Buren for third, but Van Buren lost 13 seniors off a really good team. Mountain Home has four foreign exchange kids playing for them and Alma is getting better. The [5A West] got even tougher, which is hard to believe. It’s the most brutal conference in the state.”
Asked if this year’s Bulldogs squad was going to be marginally or significantly better this spring, Woods said, “That’s a great question that will probably [be answered] after the first four, five, or six games. Technically, we have almost the same team [as last year], and if we can get some of our defenders to come along, we could be better. I will say that we are better offensively than any time since I’ve been here.” Woods first coached in Greenwood during the 2019 season.
The Bulldogs finished last season 5-5-4 in conference play, but were edged out of the playoffs at the end of the season. “We had a couple of heartbreakers,” said the coach. “We’ve got to have our minds set on making the playoffs this year in such a tough conference. But we’re just going to take it one game at a time and keep trying to improve every day.”