Boys' Soccer: Greene County’s Alacron leads experienced Boone squad
By BRANDON HURLEY
Sports Editor
Just two Greene County athletes will grace the Boone High School soccer team this spring, goalkeeper Marcelo Alacron, as he hopes to return to his sophomore year form and Isaiah Losee.
The Toreadors finished a dismal 3-14 last season, closing the schedule on a four-game losing streak, including a 5-1 dismantling by Des Moines Roosevelt in district play.
A porous Boone defensive front gave up 71 goals in 17 games.
scoring just 28 of their own. Despite the struggles, the Toreadors return a deep core, including Alacron, who starts his third straight year in goal.
The senior made 78 saves a season ago, for a 52 percent save percentage. For his career, Alacron has 183 career saves, pushing away 105 shots as a sophomore for a sparkling 75.5 percent save percentage. The Greene County senior has shown the potential, he’ll just need his frontline to shore up just a little more this spring.
“Marcelo brings a ton of leadership to the team, he’s been our starting goalie since his sophomore year,” Boone first-year head coach Connor Doyle said. “He’s extremely talented in the goal, but we hope our defense can give him a little break this year.”
Senior Kurt Yeager scored a team-high seven goals last spring and leads a key core of Gabriel Shinzato and Lucca Carvalho along with midfielders Ryan Dow and Brenton Gustofson.
Though Boone managed just three wins a season ago, things are looking up for a veteran squad with a rookie head coach and a new regime. The Toreadors must withstand some of the rough play they will face in conference if they want to improve their win total. Control and accountability is also key.
“We have some extra fire power coming in from other surrounding schools. It will be crucial for us to play physically this year, we cant get knocked off the ball easily,” Doyle said. “Our first touch needs to be very good in order to maintain possession of the ball. Communication and holding each other accountable for their positions will be crucial for our success as well.”
The Toreadors have really come together in the offseason, Doyle said, and it’s something he feels will be a big benefactor.
“We have great team camaraderie, they [all] have been playing together for some time now,” the coach said. “[They have a] fantastic work ethic and passion for the game.”
The Toreadors’ ability to distribute the ball along with any forthcoming glory has caught the coach’s attention as well.
“[They] like to move the ball around, we are comfortable with just about anyone handling [it],” Doyle said. “The only weaknesses i’m seeing is keeping our formation. We are going to try a new formation, so it may be hard to transition to that.”
The Toreadors open 2017 action at the Ames High School Invite, Saturday, April 1 in Ames. Boone will be joined by the Little Cyclones, Cedar Rapids Prairie, Grinnell, and Storm Lake. They will face off against Spirit Lake, followed by Ames.
The Toreadors’ first home game is set for Tuesday, April 4 against Carroll, which is the start of Raccoon River Conference play. The Tigers were just 2-14 last spring. The Toreadors pulled out a 2-0 victory in Carroll. Yeager scored both goals in the shutout.
Doyle expects his boys to fly under the RRC radar this spring and pick up several upsets along the way.
Perry (15-3), ADM (17-4) and Winterset (14-4) each suffered less than five losses a season ago. Winterset senior Gavin Nevshemal led the conference in scoring with 20 goals. Perry’s Jesus Rodriguez scored 16 goals as a junior. ADM qualified for the 2A state tournament, losing a 2-1 decision at the hands of Storm Lake in the quarterfinals.
“Conference play will be tough. From the research I have done, most of the schools in our conference lost some key players, but they have a lot of depth on their team,” Doyle said. “I don’t know how much it will really effect them. I feel like a lot of teams won’t prepare for us or see us as a threat because of our record last year, I hope to use that to our advantage.”
Since he’s the first-year head coach taking over a program with only 11 wins in the last two years, Doyle has tempered his expectations a bit, but can see the potential that has yet to be tapped.
“Our goal is to at least double our wins from last season, and I truly believe we will do that,” the coach said. “I could really see our team coming close to .500 as well. We have some serious talent on the team, we just all need to show up and play well together at the same time.”
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