Cassville soccer team averaging 1.7 goals per game

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

The Cassville boys soccer team has started the season at 4-3 against teams mostly a class or two higher, yet for the past two weeks, the team has had to deal with a unique way to prepare — indoors.

Curtis Ray, Cassville boys soccer coach, said frequent practices at the Rock Gym have presented a unique challenge to a season in which the team has started strong.

“We haven’t had [outdoor] practices in a week and a half with the heat index and the wet bulb,” Ray said. “We’ve actually had to be inside a lot. So, I think it’s been actually closer to two weeks or so since we’ve had an actual real practice outside.”

The circumstances have required Cassville to share limited indoor space and adjust its routine, but the Wildcats are not alone.

“With MSHSAA, the wet bulb applies to everybody,” Ray said. “There’s certain markers. A practice can be two hours max, but sometimes, you can only get in one hour, or you may have to stay inside. Everyone’s having to adjust; everyone’s have to do something different. It’s not like we’re the only ones out here, so we’ve just got to push through that mental aspect and go play,” Ray said.

The Wildcats have faced a challenging early schedule, including the Webb City tournament, where Class 3 Cassville played teams at least one, and in some cases two, classes higher.

The Wildcats held their own in the tournament, according to Ray, defeating Hillcrest, 5-2, and Webb City, 2-0, before falling in a close 1-0 championship match against Republic.

“The Republic game could have gone either way,” Ray said. “They got their bouncing ball to go in and we couldn’t get ours to go in, and that was obviously the difference.”

Cassville followed the tournament by defeating Bolivar at home in overtime, a result Ray said was particularly important for future district seeding.

“That in helps us put ourselves in our own driver’s seat, so to speak, going toward districts,” Ray said.

The Wildcats then played three games in a tournament over the weekend, defeating Marshfield, 2-1, tying Willard, 1-1, and losing to Lebanon, 1-0. Ray said the weekend provided a lesson for the Wildcats.

“One of our goals is to have a certain number of clean sheets this year, and I think there’s moments we need the lessons to learn that every game is important, and I think we overlooked Marshfield a little bit,” he said. “It ended up biting us, and hopefully, it’ll be a good lesson for the team moving forward.”

Despite the outcome, Ray said the Wildcats have been competitive throughout the early season and believe their mistakes, rather than a lack of ability, have contributed to their losses.

“At this point, we really feel like we have beat ourselves in every game,” Ray said. “Every goal that’s been scored on us has been something that was just a mental error, or a lack of work. So right now, we see those goals are really on us, something we can clean up very simply and move forward and start putting more wins in the column.”

Offensively, at 1.7 goals per game, Cassville has received contributions from throughout its lineup.

Ray pointed to David Rehbach’s performance at the Webb City tournament, including two free kick goals against the host team in the second game, and Preston Driskill’s recent goal contributions. William Ray also scored the overtime winner against Bolivar, and Hugh Tao and Daniel Frazier also contributed goals in the 2-1 victory over Marshfield.

“It’s been a great group effort right now, which is what we want,” Ray said. “We don’t want other teams to be able to target one person. We want them to have to focus on the entirety of the team.”

Driskill, traditionally an outside midfielder, has moved to left back in a positive development. Ray said the senior accepted the position change because of circumstances and has played well at both ends of the field.

“He’s been excellent, not just defending, but in the attack process as well,” Ray said.

Cassville has scored in all but two of its games mentioned, with Republic and Lebanon being the exceptions. Against Lebanon, the Wildcats had multiple opportunities inside 6 yards, but could not finish.

“We had great opportunities, multiple opportunities, and just couldn’t get the ball to bounce the right way,” Ray said.

Looking forward, Ray said the Wildcats believe they have the ability to compete with the teams on their schedule.

“We feel like we should be 7-0 right now, but we’ve got some lessons that we’ve learned along the way, which will push us forward toward districts and conference,” Ray said.

The win over Bolivar has given Cassville an important position in the district picture, particularly with a matchup against rival Monett approaching Sept. 22. Ray said the Wildcats expect the game to be competitive based on how both teams have performed against their respective schedules.

“In the Monett game, point blank, we want to win,” Ray said. “But, we want to be competitive and have ourselves in a position to be able to win it at the end of the game. Everything we’ve seen from Monett and ourselves, so far, it should be an absolute battle. 

“Both of us are squared up with the teams we’ve been facing pretty evenly. And, we believe it’s a game that we can compete in and ultimately win.”

Monett faced Bolivar earlier in the season on the road, falling in penalty kicks, 4-3.

Before the FutBrawl against the Cubs, Cassville will continue working through a demanding schedule and the challenges created by the heat. Ray said the team has tried to maintain its conditioning despite the altered practice schedule.

“Hydration breaks [in games] have been nice, but we’ve done our best to still keep our conditioning up,” Ray said.

The Wildcats’ tournament schedule also tested that conditioning, with games shifted to the evening because of the heat.

“We played three hard-fought games in the last tournament,” he said. “Conditioning-wise, I’d say Saturday morning, we did see it kind of show up a little bit. Part of that was because of the heat, we had to shift our games to 7:15 p.m. So we weren’t getting back home until 11 p.m., and then have to be up early the next day, whether for school or to head back up to Springfield.”

Ray said those circumstances are part of the lessons he wants his players to learn through sports.

“This is all stuff you’re going to have to deal with in life,” he said. “Team sports help to prepare you for that, so we’ve got to learn to push through it and not be a victim to it. And understand, we’ve got more than we think we do. So let’s just put it behind us and go play.”

Another life lesson Ray hopes at least one player has learned is the importance of choice. On Friday, Dade “Football coach Clay Weldy and I talked about it, and soccer is first on Dade’s list,” Ray said. “But, I said  this is a decision he has to make and learn life lessons from to grow him into a man. So I’m not going to tell him what he has to do. 

“And, he chose football. He made every extra point, which was the difference in the game.”

Zajac’s absence did create an opening against Willard, which is when Driskill mad the position switch that looks promising.

“Preston moved back there because of Dade being gone, just to fill a hole, and has played phenomenal for two matches,” Ray said.