Sikeston’s soccer team continues to build on growth as new season begins Aug. 27

SIKESTON — After a winless 2019 campaign the Sikeston Bulldogs made significant strides last year in amassing five wins and earning a spot in the Class 3, District 1 championship game.

With the bulk of that group back and a team-first mindset, the Bulldogs expect to continue to build on that growth as they get ready to start the upcoming season.

“We have a good number of kids that seem to get along well,” Sikeston head coach Gabe Dement said. “Our leadership from our experienced guys has been pretty exceptional. I really like our communication and how we work together.

“Our experienced guys are bringing the new guys up to speed and not shunning them or being impatient. I feel like the older, experienced guys and my leaders really want to have a successful season and realize they’re not enough by themselves to do that. So they need to try and bring the other guys up to our style of play.”

Midfield will be an area of strength as the Bulldogs bring back a trio of players at the position who earned plenty of accolades.

Dylan Thornbrough was named to the All SEMO Conference and Class 3, District 1 teams after finishing the year as Sikeston’s leading scorer.

Joshua McClendon made the all-district team with Andrew Faire being named on it as well as an honorable mention.

Other starters coming back for another year include defenders Mason Slipis, Noah Mason, and Ethan Foley.

Brice Gordon brings starting experience back at forward as does John Martin Boner at keeper.

“Eight of our starting 11 last year are back,” Dement said. “There’s a lot of experience with them coming back. I would say our goals are to exceed last year’s win total and try to make the championship game and see if we can’t win it this year.

“We have a tough district, but we believe we can compete in it.”

Thornbrough led the team in both scoring and assists last year, collecting eight goals and seven assists for a team-high 23 points.

Gordon was second on the team with five goals and three assists for 13 points while McClendon was third on the squad with four scores.

At keeper, Mason and Bohnert split time, securing 72 and 40 saves respectively to help their team earn five shutouts on the season.

Senior Carson James is a newcomer expected to see plenty of minutes.

James along with a deep freshmen group hopes to combine to add some needed depth to the roster.

“He hasn’t played any high school soccer,” Dement said of James. “But he has a good amount of experience playing prior to high school. He’s impressed us on the defensive side of the ball in practice. We also have the most freshmen we’ve had in years, probably since I’ve been coaching here.

“We have 10 freshmen we think will develop well. Maybe they won’t all contribute on the varsity level right off the bat, but we can see a lot of potential in them.”

Sikeston will hope to mimic their start to last season when they won their first two games, over Fredericktown and Notre Dame JV, by a combined score of 10-0.

Things took a downward turn soon after before a 2-0 win over Festus in their regular-season finale helped springboard the Bulldogs to a 2-0 over Farmington to open the Class 3, District Tournament.

A 5-0 loss to Notre Dame in the title game brought their season to a close.

After the trials of that winless season, Dement is excited to have plenty of positives to build on as they gear up for their first action of the season this week.

“We should have had nine seniors and we finished the season with two the year before last,” Dement said. “We went from 0-23 to 5-12 and were competitive in just about every game last year. We lost a few close games along with the five wins and made the district championship game for the first time since I believe, 2011. That was positive.

“We’ve been working on everything we can think of to try and get ready for the season. After Tuesday’s jamboree, we’ll know a lot. We’re going to go up to Perryville and face off against Perryville, Northwest House Springs, and Fredericktown 25 minutes each. That’ll tell us a lot.”

Schedule

8/24 @Perryville Jamboree, 4:30 p.m.

8/27-28 @Carbondale Invitational, TBD

9/2 @Marion, 5 p.m.

9/7 Carterville, 6:15 p.m.

9/10-11 @Hannibal Tournament, TBD

9/14 @Cape Central, 6:30 p.m.

9/16 @Carbondale, 5 p.m.

9/20 Saxony Lutheran, 4 p.m.

9/23 @Poplar Bluff, 6:30 p.m.

9/28 @Calloway County, 6:15 p.m.

9/29 Jackson, 5 p.m.

10/5 Anna Jonesboro, TBD

10/6 @Festus, 5 p.m.

10/7 North County, 6:30 p.m.

10/11 Farmington, 5 p.m.

10/14 Perryville, 5 p.m.

10/18 @Notre Dame, 6:30 p.m.

10/25 @Fredericktown, 5 p.m.

10/30 @Districts, TBD