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Girls soccer: State the next step for Marcus
By Justin Thomas, jthomas@starlocalnews.com
With a veteran team, and after coming up short on penalties in the UIL Class 5A Region I Final last year, the goal for Marcus' girls soccer team in 2013 in simple: qualify for state.
The Lady Marauders, which haven't missed the postseason since at least 2004, last reached the state tourney in 2007 and won the title in 2005.
"The core of our team is a lot of seniors," said Chad Hobbs, Marcus head coach. "This is their last year to do it and the expectations are high. It's a matter of being consistent and taking your chances. Our goal all along is to get back to state and win it. But we know the Southlakes and Plano Wests have that goal as well and we have to get through them to get there."
"This district is always tough," Hobbs said. "Coppell is always talented and plays with a lot of discipline. Flower Mound had a great season last year and Hebron is typically strong. And you look at a team like Lewisville and what they're doing so far, there are going to be battles just like always."
Still, Marcus might be the favorite after losing just a pair of starters from last year.
However, another loss to injury before the season got under way forced adjustments to be made.
"One of our biggest players last year was Emily Morrow, who was the district MVP," Hobbs said. "We lost her to an ACL and that is going to be very tough to replace. Center-mid is something we really had to look at because we were really solid there with Emily. We've looked at a couple of girls and they've stepped up and done a really good job."
The Lady Marauders have also spent the early portion of the season without junior Natalie Schmutz, a first team all-district performer last year who the team is hopeful will return by district.
"Other than that, we lost two starters from last year but were able to replace them with solid JV kids and brought some others that are coming off the bench and are giving us good minutes," Hobbs said. "Five of our starters are seniors and they do a great job from a leadership perspective."
Senior Katelyn Mountjoy is one of Marcus' key returners and is coming off a season in which she was named the district's Midfielder of the Year. This season, however, Mountjoy will play primarily at forward.
"Katelyn is coming off a big year," Hobbs said. "She's an outstanding player and can do some of everything. Bailey Clayton is also playing well up top with Natalie out."
Clayton, a sophomore, was on JV last year.
The loss of Morrow also forced Marcus to retool in the midfield, including transitioning senior Courtney Forte from the back to the middle.
"When we lost Morrow, we lost goals and we knew that," Hobbs said. "We lost creativity and a lot of scoring. So we wanted to find somebody that could make up for that and [Forte] definitely can. She scored eight times last year from right back. As an outside-mid, she's going to get forward even more and create some chances for us."
Other midfielders include junior Jamie Pugh, sophomore Dani Murphy (Co-Newcomer of the Year) and sophomore Ashley Bishop.
"Jamie is new to the varsity and has been outstanding," Hobbs said. "She's a defensive minded player. Dani brings a lot of energy and speed and is strong technically. And Ashley has been doing a good job up from junior varsity."
Marcus' defense features Maddie Brem (first team), M.J. Eckart (second team), Alexsis Cable (second team) and Taylor Durham.
"Our back line is really solid," Hobbs said. "Taylor is new and has been doing well and M.J. has been doing a good job of converting from the midfield to defense when we switched Courtney. Alexsis has been doing a great job on the left, too."
The Lady Marauders are also experienced in goal where Meg Smith (second team) returns for her third season as a starter.
"She's started since she was a freshman and is solid as can be," Hobbs said.
Hobbs is also pleased with Marcus' depth and balance.
"The JV kids have really stepped up to varsity," he said. "They come in and give us minutes but the level of our play really doesn't drop off much, which is extremely helpful.
"We're also pretty balanced in what we can do and balanced with a little youth and some good senior leadership. They're experienced and know what it takes to get there."
Marcus is out to a 7-1-1 start with strong showings at the National Elite Prep Showcase in Fort Worth and the Allen Spring Showcase last weekend.
"When you got to the prep showcase, there are tough teams from all over," Hobbs said. "You're already motivated to get started because you haven't played, but there is always good competition and you want to see where you're at. A team like St. Thomas Aquinas was 19-0-1 in their season and we're just at the very beginning of ours. To come in and play them to a 0-0 draw is a good building block for us. Right now, we're way above from goals compared to last year. We're creating opportunities and are scoring and we're hopefully going to be even stronger on the attack when we get [Schmutz] back."
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