Bloomington area high school boys soccer players to watch in 2024

Year 2 of the Eastern Greene co-ed soccer program has certainly gotten off on the right foot.

A community league for kids age 3-11 has drawn 60 players this year and a junior high program has gotten off the ground. The high school team's roster has ballooned to 30, which will give the T-Birds a chance to play some JV games, a huge benefit for the development of the younger players, especially those new to the game. It will keep coach Kurtis Moffitt and his four assistant coaches busy.

"This has been an amazing journey," Moffitt said. "We've had 31 athletes come out for soccer, which is a good problem to have. The junior high is looking really good and it keeps getting better and better. I'm super excited that we have seven seniors, including a couple who have never played.

"We have some good talent that I've worked with since they were sixth graders and now they're freshmen, so we're seeing an increase in talent and skill. We've had great support from the community."

It comes in the form of a new scoreboard for the new soccer field (just behind the home bleachers of the football field) that opened last year. Landscaping (two big limestone pieces and greenery) has been donated to dress up the entrance.

In other news, the IHSAA realigned the sectionals this past year so a new lineup awaits all six area teams.

In Class 3A, Bloomington North and South (the host) are now paired with Martinsville, Mooresville, Terre Haute North and South. In 2A, Edgewood (the host) is with Brown County, Cascade, Danville, Indian Creek and Monrovia while Owen Valley has been sent all the way up to South Vermillion where it will compete against the Wildcats, Greencastle, Northview, Sullivan and West Vigo. In 1A, Lighthouse Christian and Eastern Greene are both at White River Valley along with Bloomfield, Mitchell and Shoals.

So let's take a look at the lineups for the area's squads:

Bloomington South

HEAD COACH: Corbin Calvert, 2nd year. LAST YEAR: 14-2-1, 5-0 CI. RETURNING STARTERS: Tom Henry Berry, Jr. MF; Stephan Bartlett, Sr. MF; Brayden Doyle, Sr. MF; Joe DiGiorgio, Sr. F; Mateo Soto, Sr. MF.

OUTLOOK: The Panthers open the season ranked eighth and are shooting for higher than that, returning several key members from a team that played No. 3 Center Grove to a stalemate for 78 minutes in the sectional final. The Panthers went about testing themselves this summer against many of the state's best programs in Lake Central, Fishers, Pike, Avon, Zionsville, Lawrence North and Cathedral and earned favorable results each time. "It shows us we're right there with those teams," Calvert said. "They're all in the top 10 so it's exciting to see on any given night we can hang with those guys."

South will be experienced and strong in the midfield, led by two senior co-players of the year Brayden Doyle, Mateo Soto and Stephan Bartlett back, along with junior Tom Henry Berry, who suffered a season-ending injury last year. Up top, leading scorer DeGiorgio returns after scoring 16 goals, leading the team in assists and earning third-team All-State honors. DeGiorgio, Doyle and Berry are garnering DI interest (IU and Saint Louis) while Soto is headed to Hanover and Bartlett has an offer to play at Earlham. "Skill-wise, we're top-notch right now," Calvert said. "My core group can all play in college."

They've got a talented cast around them. With exchange student Daniel Panfilov back in Europe, the new keeper is Cam Scott-Harmon, a former field player who brings aggression and athleticism to the job. At outside back are seniors Elliot Nix and Ansel Trinidad, back after a year out of soccer. The other center back with Doyle is senior Boston Ely, a transfer who started for three years at Columbus East. New forwards are junior Michael Mmadi and a transfer from Salem (and previously Louisville Ballard) in Gus Hanjorgiris, who breaks out backflips when he scores. The speed and physicality are there, the chemistry they are able to build will be the final piece. Depth will come from juniors Gianni Santomauro and Konrad Polit. The overall numbers are big enough to field a C Team this year.

Bloomington North

HEAD COACH: Gonzalo Sanchez, 3rd year. LAST YEAR: 8-6-5, 3-2 CI. RETURNING STARTERS: Joe Luther, F; Jaafer Zaneer, F; Zach Gaither, OB; Luis Valente, CDM; Tristan Larson, CMF; Matt Ferguson, MF.

OUTLOOK: Sanchez is hoping his team will be hard to keep up with on most nights. "I think we're a more technical team for sure," he said. "Our guys, we don't have the size to play a more physical game so we need to play more as a team to create more opportunities, especially in transitions."

The new keeper is Dominic Rosolowski, who steps up from the JV team with the graduation of Dylan Stegemoller, who is now playing at Anderson. He has strong club experience as well and is ready to go, Sanchez said. The centerbacks are Jhonatan Valente and senior Witold Sicinski, who is back after a year off and will give the Cougars a physical presence on defense. Their ability to stay composed and create counterattacks will be key. Gaither has the ability to fill roles on defense or offense depending on the game at one outside back while an improved Zach Farzad is on the other. Midfield, look for Luis Valente back at the '6' with sophomore Arno Risner back after getting some time at center-mid last year and the always craft and dangerous Luther (18 goals), who drew plenty of attention last season. Larson will move from the win to the middle possibly. On the wings, look for Ferguson and James Bosco, who had 15 goals for the JV last year and was a strong 400 runner last track season. Zaneer will again be a persistent scoring threat up top. They're hoping to turn around a lot of one-goal losses and ties from last year.

"Our strength is in the style of play and how I want to break down teams and create opportunities," Gonzalo said. "A lot of them have played together in the off-season for club teams and they have good team chemistry in how they understand each other."

Edgewood

HEAD COACH: Jared Edgeworth, 1st year. LAST YEAR: 8-7-1, 5-3 WIC. RETURNING STARTERS: Kade Gilchrist, So. CM; Luke Cool, Sr. D-CM; Ean Connors, Sr. CDM-D; Quincy Morwick, So. CM-F; Jackson Huber, Jr. F.

OUTLOOK: Edgeworth moves over from Lighthouse Christian and had to hit the ground running to put his program in place. "The main things were the entire backline and goalkeeper graduated, so priority No. 1 was getting that worked out and settled. "And also trying to change the mentality of the team, so we are a team that believes we can win and do something Edgewood's never done before and that's win a sectional."

The new keeper is junior Michael Bailey who is new to the program this year. In front of him are Cool and surprise freshman Henry Norris at centerback with Connors and freshman Jasha Edgeworth at defensive mid. Edgeworth and Gilchrist can help build the offense through the middle as technical, high-level club players. Junior Des Walton will fill a striker spot and bring a lot of energy and peskiness to the spot. Huber and sophomores Hank Ripley and Kellan Moore also look to put away goals for the Mustangs this season. Freshman Lucas Critchlow will also start on the right side while a couple of seniors are fighting to start on the left. It's a team looking to push and pressure and make quick transitions from defense to offense.

"I really expect us to be a very competitive team that will be hard to beat and be strong in a lot of areas," Edgeworth said. "I think we're going to surprise a lot of teams that saw us last year. We have 18-plus guys who brought it every day through the summer, so they've have a lot of time on the field together to build as a team and build those connections."

Eastern Greene

HEAD COACH: Kurtis Moffitt, 2nd year. LAST YEAR: 1-8-3. RETURNING STARTERS: Roman Valentine Sr, CB; Kash Cullison, Jr. M-D; Ethan Moffitt, So. MF; Griff Hengeveld, So. CM-F; Alex Orr, Sr. F; Isaac Moffitt, Sr. F; Esther Crane, Jr, MF; Clara Hawk Jr. D; Isaah Clark, So. D, Caden McCormick GK, Jr.

OUTLOOK: A larger roster led by 10 returning starters has the T-Birds' hopes soaring and making for stronger workouts with several talented freshmen looking to break into the lineup. "The last two weeks we told them we're looking at defining our starters and it's upped the intensity," Kurtis Moffitt said. "It's brought out the competitive edge at practice. Freshman don't often play varsity so this is their time to learn. With a large group of sophomores, we tell them in the next two years, this is your team."

For the returners, this year is much smoother. They know what's going on and they're becoming vocal leaders. "It's nice to watch happen on its own," Moffitt said. Hawk, Esther Crane, Valentine and Jacob Crites will all be shared with the cross country team. Freshmen looking to earn playing time this year are Kyler Cullison (D), Ryder Crane, Jeff Blais (F), Cedric Maddux (GK/D) and Nick Sudano (D-MF).

Lighthouse Christian

HEAD COACH: Doug Stewart, 1st year. LAST YEAR: 6-5-2. RETURNING STARTERS: Noah Wickstrom, D; Cohen Teague, D; Sebastian Gonzalez, MF; Caden Stewart F; Josh Wang, MF.

OUTLOOK: Stewart helped out as an assistant last year and comes back as the head man this time. He has a group of 17 to work with but many are new to the program, including a flock of basketball players he picked up while recruiting the school for more athletes. "Not many have club experience, just a few," Stewart said. "The new basketball players, they don't have a lot of soccer technique and knowledge of the rules, but they are athletic and aggressive to get to the ball, so that's where we are. It's give and take but I'll take someone who can run and get after the ball. That can be offset in other areas."

With seven seniors graduating, LCA brings back Wickstrom and Teague on defense, Gonzalez and Wang at mid-field and Caden Stewart at forward. Wickstrom and Teague are acting as captains and will in charge of shutting down the middle of the field. Jeremy Wang, a part-time starter last year as a freshman, brings his 6-6 frame to the frame as the starting keeper, with Timothy Lautenbach also looking for time there. New starters include Bryce Von Bokern and 6-3 Aiden Jones on defense with Lautenbach. Brock Banks, a point guard in basketball, is new to the sport but adds speed and a physical presence to the midfield. Stewart is coming off a big freshman year scoring wise while Gonzalez and Wang will be looking for more goals.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Bloomington area high school boys soccer players to watch in 2024