MORGANTOWN — Only one season has passed since the Morgantown High boys soccer team lifted the 2021 Class AAA state championship, and after a respectable record of nine wins, five draws, and seven losses last year in 2022, head coach Sam Snyder and his team are back with a core group of experienced starters and a solid supporting cast.
Before exiting the postseason by way of a 3-2 defeat to Wheeling Park, the Mohigans hadn’t dropped a game in their previous four contests of the 2022 schedule.
“Something I’m most excited for this year is the continuation of where we left off last year,” Snyder said. “I feel like it took us almost half the season last year to really find our identity and who we were as a team. It felt sad ending when it did because we really had figured some things out.”
Now, Snyder says, most of that same group of players are back and are hungry.
Impact players in senior forward Riley Brabson, senior midfielder Joel Beeson, and senior goalkeeper Tyler Crites, will lead the lines for MHS. Will Staples, also senior, will support Beeson in the midfield, alternating attacking and defensive duties.
“I’ve told our older guys, the leaders, since the beginning that we don’t need to be worried about our technique and our skills, because it’s there for those guys,” Snyder said. “I’m more worried about their approach to the game and the attention to the product on the field. They need to be the ones to help our team set the tone and pace of the game.”
The Mohigans will also welcome an incoming transfer in senior defender Ezrieke Hirschfeld, who was an impact player for University High School previously. MHS will also be a physically strong team on top of some of the technical skills throughout the squad, which is almost how the MHS was built that captured its state title two seasons ago.
The Mohigans will kick off their 2023 campaign with three straight games away from home, the first being a tricky matchup against a tough Buckhannon-Upshur squad on Aug. 16. Beckley and Grafton will welcome the Mohigans for the second and third matches before they return home to host Bridgeport on Thursday, August 24th.
“This sport is getting better and better in this state and our question marks will be can play that physical game with the style we want to play,” Snyder said. “We get to play against Buckhannon and Beckley in our first week and those are two of the most physical teams in the state. It’s a perfect start to see where we are.”
