West Holmes girls soccer having record-setting season
Members of the West Holmes girls soccer team celebrate after winning a Division II district championship on Oct. 26.
The West Holmes girls soccer team’s record-breaking season continued with a 4-2 win over John Glenn in a Division II regional semifinal on Oct. 31.
The Lady Knights advanced to play Marietta, a 2-0 winner over Fairfield Union, in the Region 7 championship game on Nov. 4. They will make their second appearance ever in a regional final, with the only other time coming in 2012. West Holmes lost that game, so it has a chance to advance to state for the first time in program history if it can beat Marietta.
It’s been a record-setting season for the Lady Knights beyond advancing to regionals. They improved to 18-3 overall with the win over John Glenn, extending their school single-season wins record. The previous record was set by the 2012 team, which finished the year 15-5-1.
Freshman standout Charli Murphy scored three second-half goals in the win over John Glenn. Averee Troyer scored the other goal, which came with under a minute left in the first half and tied the score at 1-all. Allie McMillen, Troyer and Avery Arnold all had an assist.
West Holmes advanced to regionals in dominating fashion, outscoring its three opponents 25-0 including a 7-0 shellacking of Zanesville in the district title game on Oct. 26. Reaching regionals has been elusive for the Lady Knights, who had only been there three times before this year.
WH head coach Schuyler Snyder was a senior on the 2011 team, the first to make regionals in school history. Her senior class helped lay the foundation for the best three-year stretch in program history, as West Holmes also advanced to regionals the next two seasons under current Knights boys soccer coach Josh Wengerd.
Getting to lead her alma mater back to regionals is special for Snyder.
“It’s obviously an honor just to be able to coach this team,” she said during a phone call on Oct. 30. “It was an honor at the time to play for Josh and just be part of that team that made history the first time there and then, of course, to follow along just as a supporter there for a few years as they continued making it to regionals and whatnot. But then, just to come back, of course, it was a few building years there, but to come back and be able to implement some new things from what I experienced in college and then be able to see another regional run has been a huge honor. I attribute a lot of that to Josh — just learning a lot from him as well.”
West Holmes reached districts each of the past two seasons but was knocked out by Dover both times including a 1-0 loss in last year’s district title game. One of WH’s goals this season was getting over that hump and reaching regionals.
“I think a lot of (reaching regionals this season) was just a motivating factor for the girls that they had come up short for two years there in a row to a team that we had just constantly year after year would battle with,” Snyder said. “When the same team kind of keeps sneaking up on you and keeps doing the same thing to you, you get kind of tired of it, so a lot of it was they were motivated to get over that hump.
“But obviously, too, I think after so many years of playing together as that core group that I have, they’ve just gotten better every single year. They’ve built that confidence together. They’ve gotten stronger together, and I think a huge contributing factor was they’ve just grown together.”
Since losing to Ohio Cardinal Conference opponent Madison, also a Div. II regional finalist, on Sept. 14, the Lady Knights have reeled off 12 consecutive wins. Before John Glenn scored two goals on them, they had held their previous five opponents scoreless.
“A lot of (our success) has been confidence,” Snyder said. “We’ve been working a lot just with team building, confidence building, leadership building and just doing all those things as individuals so that as individuals they can come together and play as one core group.”
McMillen, an Akron commit, has been a playmaker for the past few seasons. She has scored 39 goals this season and is going to finish her career as one of Ohio’s all-time top goal-scorers.
Adding Murphy, who leads the team with 42 goals, into the mix has given the Lady Knights an elite 1-2 scoring threat.
“(Having Murphy as another elite scorer) has been absolutely game-changing for us,” Snyder said. “Obviously, with Ally being a senior, teams know her and recognize her number, her name. They know the threat that she is, and I mean teams are sick of her, so they’re likely going to either man-mark her, double-team her and at times triple-team her, so to be able to kind of shift a formation or shift a certain set piece or an attack to put Charli in that position, it just makes it so much easier, and honestly, it’s just that much more confidence building for the entire team that we’ve got more than one goal scorer, and in my opinion, we’ve got more than just Charli and Allie as well.”
Avery Arnold, who has a team-high 21 assists, has teamed with McMillen in the middle to create a lethal duo.
“Those two in the middle are absolutely unstoppable,” Snyder said. “They’ve played club together for, I believe, three years now. They’re good friends on and off the field. And I think just those two, the dynamic that they have on and off the field has made them so strong in the middle there, and I don’t think you’re going to find a stronger combo in the middle close to in the state as you do to Avery and Allie.
“Avery takes pride in being able to be a playmaker. She knows her role. Avery is another one that can score very well for us, but just the way that that kid can distribute the ball. I put that up to anyone in the state. She’s got an eye for it. She has the IQ for it. And just her desire to make a play rather than be the play is up to anybody in the state. She’s got that natural niche to her to just assist.”
West Holmes wouldn’t be where it’s at this season without the strong play of its defense. The unit has held nine opponents scoreless and 14 of 18 to two goals or less. Snyder credited the play of seniors Natalie Rohr, Kali Woods and goalkeeper Brianna Parks, who recorded two saves against John Glenn, as a key component to the unit’s success this season.
“I knew going into this season we were going to have a strong defensive line,” Snyder said. “We’ve got 90% of our defensive line in senior leadership including our goalie. All those girls have played the past four years together, and then, of course, they’ve even played some club together, so that’s even more beneficial to that defensive line. And then to just stick Brianna Poventud into that defensive line as well has been huge because she’s been able to learn so much.
“That experience that our defensive line has had together this past four years has just made them stronger and stronger every single year, and you can see the very drastic change each year that they’ve made together just because of that experience.”
In the win over Zanesville, West Holmes led 2-0 at halftime and erupted for five second-half goals. McMillen and Murphy both scored three goals while Arnold scored once. Rohr had three assists, and Troyer and Murphy both had one. Parks recorded three saves to earn the clean sheet.