With six returning starters and three more returning lettermen, the McDonald County High School boys' soccer team looks to improve on last year's school's best-ever 8-8-1 record under first-year coach John DeLaTorre.
"We are very optimistic about this season," DeLaTorre said. "The new turf field and updates to our facilities has everyone excited. Aside from that, we have added an experienced coach to our staff (Nathan Haikey) who will bring another level of play to this program. We return a great amount of varsity players and starters and have seen great improvement in our JV players looking to work their way up to the varsity. The overall growth throughout our program from fields, to coaches, to players has us feeling very excited and positive about this upcoming season."
McDonald County High School
2019 Soccer Roster
Name^Grade^Position
Arturo Garcia^12^GK
Leon Zacarias^12^DF
Jeo Marcos^12^MF/FW
Jaw Soe^12 MF
Eh Doh Say^12^MF/FW
Brian Lopez^12^MF/FW
Malachi Smith^12^MF/FW
Joel Morris^12^MF/FW
Juan Queztecua^12^MF
Eric Munoz^12^DF
Irael Marcos^11^DF
Alexis Diaz^11^MF
Alexis Pedrosa^11^FW
Rolando Rodriguez^11^DF
Victor Lopez^11^DF/MF
Karlo Barreda^11^MF
Melvin Ordonez^11^DF/MF
Ricardo Salas^10^MF
Julis Queztecua^10^MF
Bryan Montero^10^DF
Esteban De La Torre^10^MF/FW
Randy Reyes^10^MF/FW
Edwin Eduardo^10^DF
Luis Valdez^10^MF/FW
Tucker Dill^9^DF
Douglas Lopez^9^DF/MF
Rony Lopez^9^DF/MF
David Burleson^9^DF
Esteban Martinez^9^MF/FW
Saw Eh^9^MF/FW
Rogers Olmos^9^FW
Jesus Lara^9^FW
2019 Mustangs Soccer Schedule
Date^Opponent^Level^Time
Aug. 27^MCHS Jamboree^Varsity^4:30 p.m.
Sept. 3-7^at Cassville Tourn.^Varsity^TBA
Sept. 10^College Heights^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Sept. 17^Monett^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Sept. 19^at Riverton^Varsity/JV^5 p.m.
Sept. 24^Springfield Catholic^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Sept. 26^at Carthage^Varsity/JV^5 p.m.
Oct. 01^at Thomas Jefferson^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Oct. 3^at Neosho^Varsity/JV^5 p.m.
Oct. 5^at Cassville JV Tourn.^JV^TBA
Oct. 8^at Cassville^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Oct. 15^at Marshfield^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Oct. 17^at Logan Rogersville^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Oct. 22^Aurora^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Oct. 24^at Joplin^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Oct. 31^Webb City^Varsity/JV^4:30 p.m.
Nov. 2-9^Districts^Varsity^TBA
Leading the returner starters from last year are leading scorers Eh Doh Say (forward) and Jeobany Marcos (midfielder).
"Eh Doh Say has the technical ability a lot of soccer players wished they had," DelaTorre said. "He is a gifted dribbler who has great control and calmness with the ball at his feet. Eh Doh has the ability to stretch other teams out of position with his short passing ability and quickness with his ability to hit an accurate long pass. Going to goal, Eh Doh is one our most clinical finishers and is someone who can find the back of the net for us game after game.
"'Jeo' is one of our most technical and skilled players. He brings a level of player to our team that not a lot of teams in the area can say they have. Jeo has the ability to take over any game he wants, any way he wants. He is an excellent passer with good vision, has the ability to score goals from in close and from a distance and is disciplined enough to work hard and help us on the defensive end."
On the other side of the ball, McDonald County has back goalie Arturo Morales.
"Arturo is one of our program's strongest leaders," DelaTorre said. "In addition to his leadership skills, he gives us a goalkeeper we can rely on game in and game out. He is an excellent shot stopper, has great reaction skills and has the ability to keep us in games with his goalkeeping abilities."
Rounding out the returning starters are Ireal Marocs, Carlos Marcos and Jaw Soe. Returning lettermen back are Brian Lopez, Ricardo Salas and Malachi Smith.
DelaTorre said during the offseason he has seen a very encouraging number of new faces between freshmen and returning high school players.
"We have had a solid group of new players to replace those who we lost from last year," DeLaTorre said. "However, our strongest newcomers to the varsity may be our junior varsity players from last year. Players such as Ricardo Salas, Alexis Diaz and Alexis Pedroza will bring new faces to the varsity roster with a great amount of experience on the playing field."
DeLaTorre said with the large group of players back with good skills and experience, he expects to open the game up more.
"This year we are going to look to add more dimensions to our style of play," DeLaTorre said. "Last year we were able to become more comfortable possessing the ball and controlling the game how we want it as opposed to letting our opponents dictate the game. This season we will look to build on that. We want to become a team that is comfortable passing the ball and keeping the ball for extended periods of time, even without scoring. We are going to look to add this to our style of play and combine it to our ability to score from the counterattack, giving us multiple ways to score and win games."
McDonald County hosted a jamboree at MCHS on Aug. 27 but will open the season for real at the Cassville Boys' Soccer Tournament on Sept. 3-7. The Mustangs' will play the first game of any kind on the school's new turf when they host College Heights in their home opener on Sept. 10. Kickoff is at 4:30 p.m.
"Last year our program had its strongest season to date," DeLaTorre said. "We were able to win games and compete against strong teams throughout the area. To build off of our success and bring more wins to our team this year, we will need to continue to learn how to play as a team. We have a very good amount of individual skill on this team and if we can find a way to work together and have our role player's step up to a higher level, we will be very successful this coming season."
Sports on 08/29/2019