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2024 Marion-Area High School Boys and Girls Soccer Preview Capsules

tabnews August 17, 2024
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Here is a capsule look at the Marion area’s boys and girls high school soccer teams for the 2024 season.

Highland Boys

  • Conference: Mid Ohio Athletic.
  • Coach: Satchel Denton (second season, 5-11).
  • Assistants: Payton Woodruff, Anthony Wilson.
  • Last Year: 5-11.
  • Roster: Braxtyn Sqrow (So., letter), Brady Byler (So., letter, HM MOAC), Aiden Bateson (Sr., letter), Malin Fichtner (Sr., letter, second-team MOAC), Josiah Fatka (Sr., letter), Liam Delaney (Sr., letter), Hendrick Karya (Jr., letter), Chase Heck (So., letter), Chase Jordan (Jr., letter), Keegan Tackett (Jr., letter), Clayton Irons (So., letter), Kasey Clark (So.), Coltin Burt (Jr.), Logan Elverson (Fr.), Grant Jennings (Sr.), Coleman Chamberlain (Fr.).
  • The Skinny: The Scots have great ballhandlers in the midfield, and they are the key in every game … There are some new and younger players on the roster … The team’s chemistry needs to improve … Highland lost five players to graduation … With a big freshman class and a move-in, the roster is bigger than it was a year ago.
  • Comment: “Our expectation for the season is to have the first-ever winning season in program history and to win the league for the first time,” Denton said.

Look back at last year: 2023 girls soccer guide: River Valley, Highland expect winning seasons

More from last year: 2023 boys soccer preview: River Valley poised to contend in MOAC

Highland Girls

  • Conference: MOAC.
  • Coach: Megan Dever (first season)
  • Assistant: Riley Duncan.
  • Last Year: 9-8-2.
  • Roster: Brynn Orr (Sr., midfield, letter, second-team MOAC), Raven Bump (Sr., MF/defense, letter), Kiersten Holcomb (Sr., MF/D, letter), Bryleigh Young (Sr., MF/D, letter), Abby Smith (Sr., D/goalkeeper, letter), Sophia Hinkle (Sr., MF/D, letter), Ava Fichtner (Jr., MF, letter), Ashton Prest (So., MF/D, letter), Lillian Jones (So., MF, letter), Kynzie Green (So., MF, letter), Abigail Hinkle (So., letter), Madison Blubaugh (So., letter), Cara Chamberlain (Sr., GK), Lorelai Myers (Sr.), Sydney White (Sr., D), Alexis Osborne (Sr.), Macy Carter (So., MF), Kailyn Hunter (So.), Chloe Perdas (So.), Nevaeh Funk (Fr., D), Molly Jones (Fr., MF), Anna Jones (Fr., MF), Addison Reichenbach (Fr.).
  • The Skinny: Dever is in her first year at Highland, but spent the last 10 coaching club and high school soccer in the Westerville area … The Scots own strong connections between players on the field and off it … They need to be more spatially aware … Five seniors graduated, including the starting goalkeeper plus strength in the midfield and along the backline of defense.
  • Comment: “Ontario and Clear Fork are the two state-ranked teams in the conference. We’ve followed them in third the past few years. Being able to hang with them a little longer during games would be a huge success for our program. Shelby, Galion and River Valley are all very competitive games for us, and we look forward to those every year.”

Marion Harding Boys

  • Conference: MOAC.
  • Coach: Ian Hartley (first season).
  • Assistant: Mitch Uline.
  • Last Year: 1-17.
  • Roster: Angel Gomez (Fr.), Juan Hernandez (Fr.), Hahun Reyes (Fr.), Wade Fisher (Fr.), Jeffrey Stimson (Fr.), Humberto Jimenez (So.), Alex Toombs (Fr.), Rylen Gillispie (Fr.), Lennox Backus (Fr.), Liam Hoy (So.), Gideon Owings (So.), Paxton Holsinger (So.), Cohen Oden (So.), Josiah Honaker (Jr.), Brayden Coleman (Jr.), Aydden Hoy (Jr.), Ricardo Bautista (Jr.), Tristen Elmore (Jr.), Preston King (Jr.), Jackson Shipley (Sr.), Brady Seabold (Sr.), Andres Alejandre Rosas (Sr.), Haeden Honaker (Sr.).
  • The Skinny: Harding will look different in formation and style, foregoing the kickball or long ball style … The freshmen are talented … The goal is to possess the ball and break teams downs … Owings is a club player and key to the offense … Honaker is taking over as the goalkeeper … They are inexperienced and need to learn how to win … Hartley wants to turn around a culture that is 2-34 over the last two seasons … The Presidents want to be more competitive in the league and win at least eight games overall.
  • Comment: “Learning to win isn’t necessarily easy, even with the influx of young talent. It is going to take time to get these young men the confidence they need. They have shown tremendous growth through our summer training program,” Hartley said.

Marion Harding Girls

  • Conference: MOAC.
  • Coach: Kori Nehrenz.
  • Assistants: Megan Wilson, Owen Russell, Bret Nehrenz, Grecia Catalan.
  • Last Year: 4-14.
  • Roster: Gabby Neault (Jr., forward, first-team MOAC), Ivy Russell (Jr., F), Layla Schneider (Jr., center back), Madison Cosey (Jr., CB), Paris Jaimes (Jr., MF), Ruby Williams (Jr., GK), Joshuany Dela Cruz (F), Charlee Etgen (So. outside back), Brynna Phillips (Jr., MF), Jaylen Fuentes (Sr., F),
  • The Skinny: The Presidents have grit, and they work well together … They are continuing to cultivate interest in the sport at Harding … They’ve been sitting around 24 girls in the program for the last few years, but Nehrenz wants to add a half dozen more to transform the program … They lost Suzannah Houpt, Ashley Martinez, Lexie Davis, Ashley Alvarez, Gabrielle Hittle, Corlei Morris and Hailey Smith to graduation.
  • Comment: “We are really focusing on continuing to build our program, fostering a welcoming culture and creating an environment for growth,” Nehrenz said.

North Union Girls

  • Conference: Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division.
  • Coach: Bill LeRoy (third season, 4-30-1).
  • Assistant: Sarah Hoffer.
  • Last Year: 1-17, 0-11.
  • Roster: Kinley Balzer (So., MF/F, letter), Kylee Balzer (Fr., MF/F), Cameron Lugwig (Fr., D/GK), Rylee Horne (Fr., D/MF), Peyton Engle (So., D/MF), Lauren Hall (Sr., F/MF, letter), Kale Keigley (Jr., MF/F, letter), Paisley Jordan (Fr., D/MF), Kendall Wamsley (Fr., D/MF), Rylan Riffle (Sr., D/MF, letter, 2022 first-team CBC), Lyra Wigglesworth (Fr., D/MF), Allison Stacklin (Sr., MF/D), Addison Lowe (Fr., MF/D), Emma Justice (So., MF/F, letter), Zoni Robinson (Fr., F/MF), Leah Matlack (Sr., MF/F, letter), Olivia Ehrick (Fr., MF/D), Hallie Young (So., D/MF, letter), Brianna Rector (So., D/MF), Kailyn Colegrove (Jr., GK/MF, letter), Riley Dunn (Fr., MF/F), Jessanie Pfister (So., D/MF, letter).
  • The Skinny: The Wildcats are a tight-knit group with solid leadership in all four classes … This is the third year of the program, starting from scratch, in a community where soccer doesn’t have the lineage of volleyball, basketball and softball … They’ve worked hard in the offseason to improve their attacking, possession and goalkeeping … The seniors want to leave their mark … They to get better at finishing around the goal and need to improve their team defense … Lost to graduation were Anna Crusey, Corajayne DeBoer, Chloe Hall and Ryleigh Rasey, plus seven others who are not playing this season.
  • Comment: “We are not defining any results-based goals. We continue to measure ourselves on process-related goals,” LeRoy said. ” That said the growth of this group has been on a consistently upward tr4ajectory since January 2024 when we reconvened after last fall’s high school season. Now that we are in season and working together with our full team and with no restrictions, I want to see that growth trajectory move even further upward. If it does, I think we have an enjoyable season ahead of us.”

Pleasant Boys

  • Conference: MOAC.
  • Coach: Andrew Reniff (second season, 0-13).
  • Assistant: Michael Keeslar.
  • Last Year: 0-13.
  • Roster: Griffin Gleespen (letter), Jair Orrostieta (letter), Julio Tot Cu (letter), Isaiah Orrostieta, Christopher Agguire (letter), Issack Salinas (letter), Landon Severns (letter), Cooper Halpin (letter), Andrew Schlecht (letter), Noah Roettger, Adrian Olivos (letter), Gael Gomez, Arison Gottfried.
  • The Skinny: The Spartans enjoy good chemistry and work well together … This chemistry allows them to learn how each plays and to know their tendencies … Depth is an issue with only 14 on the roster to start the year … The understand the lack of numbers and are working on building endurance as a team … Ethan Nutter and Aaron French graduated, another transferred and three are not playing this season.
  • Comment: “Our goal this year is to put together consistent performances. Last season was a learning year, especially with learning an entirely new set of tactics with players moving around into different positions. This year we bring together a complete team of players dedicated to improving this program and exceeding expectations,” Reniff said.

River Valley Boys

  • Conference: MOAC.
  • Coach: Joel Richards (fourth season, 28-25-1).
  • Assistants: Molly Thompson, Jaden Williams, Sherod McGuire, Mitchel Seckel, Mason Snyder.
  • Last Year: 13-5-1, 5-1.
  • Roster: Kain Mencer (Jr., D, two letters), Aiden Jordan (Jr., left back, two letters), Linken Hornung (Jr., MF, two letters), Rylan Smith (Sr., CB, three letters), Hudson Pollock (Sr., F., three letters, 20 goals, 13 assists, first-team MOAC, second-team Central District), Preston Campbell (Sr., MF, 3 letters), Landyn Wheeler (Sr., MF, one letter), Charlie Seckel (Jr., MF, one letter), Wyatt Lawhun (Sr., CB), Cooper Mullins (So., GK/LB, one letter, 2 saves), Christian Knight (Sr., MF, three letters, 16 goals, 11 assists, first-team MOAC), Zane VanGundy (Jr., MF, one letter), Carson Walker (Jr., D, two letters), Riley Hummel (Sr., MF), Reed McCall (So., D, one letter), J.R. Bates (Sr., GK, three letters, 117 saves, seven shutouts, 1.52 goals against average, second-team MOAC), Jacob Hunter (Jr., MF, two letters), Harry Lee (So., MF, one letter, missing season due to ACL injury), Caleb Strother (So., MF, on letter), Daegan Endicott (Fr., D/MF), Ian Burns (Jr., MF, two letters, 2 assists, HM MOAC), Daniel Laytart (Sr., MF, one letter), Coben Reser (So., MF, one letter, 2 assists), Manny Strother (So., F/D), Landon Bauer (Jr., F/MF, two letters), Brody Kightlinger (Jr., D), Gideon Owings (So., MF), Kyron Pender (Fr., D/MF).
  • The Skinny: The Vikings graduated their first All-Ohio in boys soccer in Gabe Douce, plus all-leaguers in Noah Williams and Briley Beckley and another who transferred … With 18 juniors and seniors, they are a veteran group, and with Richards being in his fourth season as the head coach, all of them have played only for him in their careers … Pollock and Knight are the two best scorers in the Marion-area and one of the best 1-2 punches in the Cenrtal District … Bates is a two-time all-league goalkeeper, and the defense is further along despite graduating Williams who is considered the best defensive player in school history … Losing Lee to injury for the season means they need to stay vigilant about their health … The Vikes expect to challenge Ontario for the top of the MOAC.
  • Comment: “I have our players fill out a team goal and individual goal every year. Based on that, our team is pretty consistent with wanting to break the school wins record, winning the MOAC and going farther in this year’s district tournament,” Richards said.

River Valley Girls

  • Conference: MOAC.
  • Coach: Justin Hage (ninth season, 59-60-13)
  • Assistants: Jeremy Lavery, Makyha Rodgers.
  • Last Year: 7-8-1, 2-3-1.
  • Roster: Kiley Facione (So., F, letter), Avery Street (So., D, letter), Khloe Kee (Jr., M), Sarina Strother (Fr., M), Sidney Street (Sr., D, letter), Kylee Mosley (Jr., M, letter), Marinn McGuire (Sr., M, letter), Havyn Rodgers (So., GK/D/M), Izzy White (Fr., GK/M), Faith Knight (So., F/M), Bella Scarberry (Jr., M), Megan Thompson (Jr., M, letter), Ameera Snyder (Jr., M), Chloe Valentine (Jr., D/F, letter), Addie Sickmiller (Jr., F/M), Harper Rogers (Fr., D/M), Abigail Long (So., M), Cora Barnes (Fr., M), Scarlett Roston (So., M), Chloe Addis (Fr., F/M), Ellie Rowe (Fr., GK/D/M), Ade Dyer (So., D), Hope Lemasters (Sr., M), Valerie Riegel (So., M/D), Rylee McGowan (Fr., D/M/F).
  • The Skinny: The Vikings had a hard preseason playing against top teams to get ready for 2024 … They started a middle school program last year, and the freshmen have a jump on the culture and how the system works … The junior varsity program developed good players who are ready to step up … The leaders have everyone bought into the team-first mentality … They are still very young, retuning only seven letter winners … Gone to graduation are Halle Snyder, Gabby Riegel, Delaney Myers, Indi Willis, Olivia Meddles and Gianna Alves, plus Kiley Ratliff who moved out of state.
  • Comment: Even though we’re a young team, we still expect to win,” Hage said. “That’s in our culture. Our goal is to win 10-plus games, go undefeated in Marion and Morrow County and win in the tournament.”

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