PREVIEW: Clay girls soccer

The Clay girls soccer team returns a slew of all-league performers from last year’s team that won the NLL Cardinal Division title, which leads to high hopes for this season.

Not just the talent, but the team’s overall experience excites 12th-year head coach Don Hess, who is in his 19th year with the program overall.

“They're a great group of kids to coach,” he said. “They're very willing to learn and be coachable. The expectations are starting to grow a little bit, which is good. Our goal is to start competing with the other teams in Division II in Northwest Ohio when it comes to tournament time.”

Last year, the Eagles went 9-7-2 overall before falling to Ashland in the district semifinals. They’ll return nine players who started at least one game last year, including seven all-league selections.

Back this year as reigning First Team All-NLL selections are senior striker Jaelyn Rowe, sophomore attacking midfielder Emily Threet and sophomore center back Alianna Rowe. Four returners also earned second team honors: senior goalkeeper Rily Chambers, senior striker Koren Stevens, senior defender Vanessa Wilk and sophomore midfielder Chloe Miller.

Among that group, Chambers and Stevens are both two-time all-league selections. Chambers became the starting keeper late in her freshman season, and she enters her third full season as the starter this fall.

Overall, this year’s team will feature six seniors. Aside from Chambers, Wilk, Stevens and Jaelyn Rowe, the Eagles return outside back Gracie Sekinger and striker/midfielder Aleah Simon.

While Hess is high on his team’s defensive ability, he said the team must score more this season.

“We have to be able to take some pressure off of defending by scoring,” he said. “We need to score more this year. It’s that simple. We’ve had to survive against the better teams by being a solid defending team, and we still have a long way to go against those teams.”

Other players expected to serve key roles this year include junior midfielder Aubrey Swartz, junior outside back/midfielder Olivia Muir, sophomore midfielder Grace Mittendorf and sophomore center back Kaylee King.

Mittendorf and King were among a talented freshmen class last year.

“Five of those girls were freshmen last year and at the end of the season, they weren’t coming out of the game,” Hess said. “They were that important. We’re hoping they really get better from an experience standpoint, and they look to be doing that.”