Soccer Seniors Provide Leadership on the Field

When the starter’s time came for their first game of the season, the group gathered at the center of the field in their pre-kickoff huddle. For the 10 other starters, senior Captain Cam Smith brought to the squad’s attention what they had all been focusing during the off-season; during every wind-sprint, during every cleat they had taken to the shin, during every cramp they couldn’t shake from their leg. This would be their last chance to leave their mark.
“This is the last time we will face this team, make them remember us,” Smith said.
The Lancers went on to win that game 2-0 against Blue Valley High School, a team that is capable of making a run at state. Led by the most seniors in school history,17, East believes that they too are primed for a shot at state.
Flash-back four years to the first week of school and these 17 seniors were barely recognizable. Not only was this their first week of high school, but it was also Jamie Kelly’s first season as head soccer coach. Though it was only his first season at the school, he had already developed his eye for talent and he could see that behind this group of shy, intimidated, and undeveloped freshman lay a special class.
“When I saw them all together as freshman, I thought ‘you know what, we have the potential to do something great when they are all juniors or seniors. You just never know what is going to happen,” Kelly said.
That first week of practice years ago laid the groundwork for today’s team. Out of the 10 senior starters, nine of them made Junior varsity as a freshman. For the next four years the group remained together, playing on the same team whether it be JV or varsity, an anomaly for the East Soccer program.
“Normally there is only a couple freshmen on JV but since we had nine, it was kind of a big deal,” senior captain Zach Colby said. “We were all so pumped that so many of us made the team, and we had a bunch of friends on our team. We were all still somewhat scared of high school at that point, so having this team got us through that.”
The core group of players continued making strides, when as sophomores they had a defining moment. On the second day of practice, the JV squad scrimmaged the varsity and won 2-1. Although it was just practice, it gave that group an idea of what they were capable of.
“We were all thinking ‘wow we can really be good if we all put our minds to it, we can do big things if we work hard and stick together as a team,” Smith said.
Now as seniors, the three captains of the team all came from that squad with roots from Freshman year.
“When they were all freshman, I was thinking to myself ‘holy cow this could be my varsity one day and they all are really small,” Kelly said. “But obviously throughout the years they have gotten bigger, faster, stronger. ”
To an average fan, you could never tell that this group of seniors was composed of all different types of personalities from all different friends groups; in a way this team is like a melting pot, and Kelly wouldn’t want it any other way. They have chemistry- a necessity for for any Kelly-coached team.
This team knows how to bond off the field as well, be it playing games of dodgeball or massive halo tournaments. But when they get to practice, they know when to work hard and focus. According to Colby, last season the players became somewhat complacent and took what they had for granted, something that they won’t let happen this season.
With a bulk of the seniors having played together for the past three years, the players have gotten to know each other’s tendencies almost as well as their own. This skill goes hand in hand with the way the Lancers will communicate which will undoubtedly be one of the team’s strengths.
Although the chemistry is strong Coach Kelly has been preaching to the players that the one downfall of this team could be if one player tries to take the spotlight and do too much.
“With this many seniors, it would be very easy for somebody to be like ‘I want to be the leading goal scorer, or I want to be the best defender so I’m going to do my own thing or try to be the best mid-fielder’,” Kelly said. “And it would be easy for some guy to look for themselves to try and to do too much; because being all seniors they all want to be leaders but they need to be leaders also.”
The one difference between this team and many of Kelly’s past teams is bench depth. With talented non-starters, it won’t matter when the starters come out of the game, it doesn’t mean that the talent has left the field; the guys on the bench come back with an almost equal attack.
When this team played against Olathe East, the number 5 ranked team in the state at the time, they put together the perfect game. The seniors showed the potential they have as a team winning 1-0.
“From beginning to end, in all of my years here at East I have never seen a team play that well as a team and play that hard as a team for each other,” Kelly said. “I have never seen a Shawnee Mission East soccer team do that. It was so much fun to watch.”
Scoring goals will be a strength for the team this season but what may pose as a problem farther down the road may be defense. Although they return their goalie, the defense could end up making the difference for this team between being a state champion and a state quarter finalist.
“I think that’s going to be the focus this year, we want to make sure everyone has a lasting impression of Shawnee Mission East soccer,” Smith said. “For senior guys, it’s just a countdown of your last games, it’s your 16th to last game, it’s your 15th to last game. I think it’s going to make people more passionate and make people play as hard as they can and not take a day off.”