Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
For the past three years or so, Genoa has fought a numbers crunch with its soccer team, and 11th-year head coach Tim Memmer hopes that will improve.
“There’s just been no incoming players,” he said. “Last year, I had a couple incoming freshmen. The year before that, there was one. This year, there’s one.”
The goal will be to improve that moving forward, especially with a large senior class departing after this season.
“It's not mathing very well, because there's only three eighth graders that are playing soccer,” Memmer said. “I don’t have a smoke and mirrors answer for you. We're just trying to stay as organized as we can right now.”
This year’s roster, however, features nine seniors and is full of kids passionate about the sport, which makes for a fun job for Memmer.
“It's still an absolute joy to be out with these guys every day we go out there,” he said. “I got a new assistant coach this year and he's like, ‘Wow, it's like this is such a change from what I’m used to.’ He's like, ‘These guys are all really good guys.’ It's just, they listen and there's not dumb stuff going on. They're just a fun group of guys.”
This year, the team could possibly have around 15 players, although three or four are potentially dual-sport athletes with football.
Among that group are several key returners as the Comets bring back four of last year’s five All-Northern Buckeye Conference selections, except for Bradan Nowak.
In fact, Nowak — a four-year player — was the lone returning senior on last year’s team along with three other seniors who hadn’t played soccer before.
Those core four seniors back are forward Jayden Kutchenriter (First Team All-NBC), midfielder Jake Woollard (Second Team All-NBC), midfielder Max Huss (Honorable Mention All-NBC) and defender Isaac Schimmoeller (Honorable Mention All-NBC).
For Kutchenriter, Memmer said his potential is high, especially if he’s less passive.
“When he decides to, he can be a very good finisher,” he said. “He also at times looks to be the facilitator a bit too often, but he's our leader of the team.”
Another key returner for Genoa is forward Gavin Goodman, who didn’t play much last year after breaking his foot early in the season.
Aside from that, Huss found out at the end of last season that he played most of the year with a broken ankle, which also speaks to the love and toughness the group of seniors have for the sport.
“He played most of the season on a broken ankle,” Memmer said. “He had an ankle rebuilt. They had to bring in synthetic tendons and reattach stuff. He played the whole season, and he's just like, ‘Yeah my ankle bothers me a little bit.’ He gets a report afterwards, and it's like, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s a whole other level of toughness there.’”
Goalkeeper Joey Caughorn also returns.
Memmer said the seniors are the foundation to the team, and the group will be key to the team’s season, which starts Aug. 15 at home against Huron.
“They’re our workhorses,” Memmer said. “They are there every day when we're doing stuff. For the most part, they're a pretty close group of guys. Four or five of them have been friends forever. We do have a pretty good team bond.”
