Boys prepared to kick off season

Sonja Karp
NLJ Sports Reporter
 
Just like last year, the 2019 Dogie soccer team has been challenged once again by Mother Nature to get a good start to their season. Late winter snow storms dumped feet of snow on soccer fields, forcing the squad indoors to try to get up to speed.
“It’s kind of rough when you’re going on week three of practicing inside,” sighed head coach Josh Peterson. “It’s tough to get ready for outdoor soccer when it’s impossible to replicate the size of the field in a gym.”
Given the situation, Peterson and his crew have been doing what they can to prepare… for getting started. 
Numbers are looking good for the team this year with 27 athletes out for the sport, and all but one of last season’s varsity starters are returning. 
“I’m really excited that we are bringing back pretty much everyone from last year,” Peterson exclaimed. “We also have a good crew of freshmen joining us, so that will really help as well.”
Among the key players returning to the pitch this season are Kyle “Scrappy” Haslam and Jacob Rhoades in the attacking positions, and Aaron Fullerton and Isaiah Covey in the center back defense positions. Others that Peterson is expecting to see contributions from include Carson Bock, Dayton McFarland, Jacob Suess and Talon Logan, while Bradyn Frye will be starting the season off in the goalie position.
“We have a lot of good prospects for several positions this year, and there is definitely some competition for who will get starting positions,” Peterson nodded. “That’s a great problem to have, and everyone who plays will get to see quite a bit of time, whether they start or not.”
Though Newcastle had the start of their season delayed, other teams around the state opened up last weekend. Looking around the conference, Peterson stated that he felt his team should be competitive with at least some of the teams. 
A change in procedure this year has seen an end to the quadrant system and thus to the qualification process for the state tournament. Rather than holding a regional tournament or a play-in game situation to determine which teams will compete in the culminating tournament, this year it will be the top four teams in each conference at the end of the regular season who will advance. 
“Every game counts this year, and we have more pressure on our season record than we did before,” Peterson admitted. “We have some tough opponents in our conference, but I’m cautiously optimistic that we can be competitive with them this season.”
The Dogies will be up against Douglas, Buffalo, Rawlins and Torrington in the East Conference, and each of those will give Newcastle all they can handle throughout the season. The Dogies were scheduled to open last weekend at Scottsbluff, but winter storms caused the game to be cancelled. As such, the Dogies will kick things off this weekend with a tournament in Worland. There will be 16 teams in attendance, so Newcastle will get the opportunity to see several 3A teams from both sides of the state. 
The squad will start Friday at 1:00 p.m. against Worland, the defending state champions, so it will present the Dogies with a good challenge right off the bat. Though a tough draw, this will give the team the opportunity to see where they stand against the best, and will give them an idea of what they need to get to that level of play. 
From there, they will see either Lander or Lyman, and are guaranteed at least three contests over the course of the weekend.