Jonathan Alder’s girls soccer team is pictured from left, front row, Peyton Sifrit, Ava Ater, Emma Hicks, Kayla Devore and Jhessica Rauch; second row, Emma Rector, Maryn Tanferi, Chloe Thomas, Katie Hooley, Carmela Dixon and Elizabeth Chin. Back row, head coach Nathaniel Byrum, Alex Shaw, Ashley Warren, Kendall Keene, Sophie Schaefer, Mikayla Jewell and coach Timothy Augsback. Not pictured, coach Nicole Hall. (Photo submitted)
Members of the JA boys soccer program are from left, front row, Kaiqi Cen, Roman Stephen-Huston, Martin Juarez-Dominguez, Jacob Cameron, Charlie Aurin and Nicky Christopher; second row, Riley LaFayette, Jordan May, Logan Shelley, Carson Skidmore, Jacob Brandel, Noah Bauerle, Owen Hecht and Jacob Riedel; third row, Ryland Vogel, Anderson Wilson, Ethan Troyer, Levi Lonigford, Dominic Dellapina, Matthew Owens, Seth Dickman, Noah Kuck and Drew Corbitt; fourth row, coach Jim McLain, head coach Craig Devine, Evan Stage, Dennis Rosales, Roman Van Rookhuizen, Connor Boggs, coach Jordan Tipton and coach Matthew Devine. Not pictured, Alexa Baltazar-Santos, Jimmy Martinez-Trujillo and Jonathan Mora-Montoya. (Photo submitted)
Jonathan Alder’s girls soccer team finished fourth in the Central Buckeye Conference a year ago.
New head coach Nathaniel Byrum wants to improve upon that this fall.
“Our main goal is to win the CBC,” he said.
The Lady Pioneers (who were 6-2-1 in the conference a year ago) have a number of solid returning lettermen.
They include forwards Katie Hooley, Emma Hicks and Jhesica Rauch; midfielders Emma Rector and Carmela Dixon; keeper Ashley Warren; and defenders Alex Shaw, Chloe Thomas and Kendall Keene.
Newcomers to the team (which finished 14-3-1 overall in 2020) include forwards Elizabeth Chin and Mikayla Jewell; midfielders Kayla Devore and Maryn Tanferi, keeper Sophie Schrader; and defenders Ava Ater and Peyton Sifrit.
“This is a hard-working group that is willing to learn,” said Byrum. “They have been playing great possession style of soccer.”
Byrum said it will take some time for the team to adapt to a new head coach and learning a different style of play.
JA boys will be young
Coach Craig Devine’s team returns just four lettermen from a group that went 5-7-2 (5-2-2 in the CBC) during the 2020 campaign.
Those veterans will provide the strength in the midfield with Nicky Christopher, Roman Huston and Charlie Aurin.
The other letterman is defender Dennis Rosales.
“Our strength will be our soccer intelligence and creative play,” said Devine. “However, our area of concern will be our inexperience.
“However, I anticipate excellent growth in this group as the season develops,” he said. “The goals for this season are to improve as a group to play free-flowing soccer with creativity and skill.
“The CBC is a competitive conference and will be a good physical challenge with each match,” said Devine.