Author: John Cotey

When coach Denis Vukorep looks out at this year’s girls soccer team at Paul R. Wharton High, he sees plenty of familiar faces, and that’s always a good thing.

He doesn’t return his leading scorer from last season, midfielder Tyler Hubbard, although he does return Tyler’s little sister Sydney. His second leading scorer, Alisha Deschenes, is back. So is keeper Caroline DeLisle, midfielder Delaney Rowen and defenders Emily Johnson and Natalie Noble.

In all, seven starters from last year’s team that went 13-6-4 last year return.

It’s enough to keep expectations high, as the Wildcats hoped to follow up one of their most successful seasons as the 2016-17 campaign kicked last this week with the 10th annual Wharton Invitational. The Wildcats are already 4-1, and have outscored opponents in the games they have won by a 19-4 margin. The lone loss came 2-0 to Land O’Lakes, the Class 3A state runners-up from last season.

“Every team loses players, but when you return so much talent, you expect the team to be in the same spot it was last year,’’ Vukorep says.

For the Wildcats, that “same spot” would be the Region semifinals, where they fell to Palm Harbor University High 2-0 last year. The Hurricanes are five-time state champions and one of the top girls soccer programs in the state, and have become, for the moment, Wharton’s primary nemesis after handing them three of their six losses in 2015-16.

This year, Wharton has its sights set on toppling PHU, although Class 5A, District 7, is fraught with other challenges, like former state champion Steinbrenner and perennial playoff contenders Wiregrass Ranch and Plant.

The combined 2015-16 record of every team in 5A-7 was 73-35.

“It’s one of the toughest districts around,’’ Vukorep said. “Look at Steinbrenner last year, they were 10-5 and finished fifth. There’s not a lot of margin for error.”

The Wildcats will lean on DeLisle, who had eight shutouts last season in 17 games, with an impressive 1.10 goals-against-average. This season, she has allowed only six goals in five matches.

A University of Central Florida in Orlando commitment, DeLisle is a natural athlete who skipped volleyball this fall to focus on soccer, and has elite reflexes and athleticism.

“She levels the playing field (against teams that have big-time scorers),” Vukorep said. “She lets us be more aggressive out there on offense, and when we get a lead and play a little more conservatively, it’s just that much harder to score on her.”

Deschenes, who made the All-Conference team along with DeLisle last season, is the top returning scorer after netting 10 goals in 2015-16. Deschenes, who passed on cross country this fall to hone her soccer game, has already almost matched last year’s total, scoring eight goals in the four victories.

Sidonne Vickers had four scores last year, but Vukorep is hoping that Vickers can return to her freshman year form, when she led the team with 17 goals. She leads the team so far with five assists.

Midfielder Sydney Hubbard is filling in for departed sister Tyler, now at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and has three goals, and Noble will be asked to shore up the defense, which lost two starters to graduation.

Vukorep is also excited about some newcomers — midfielder Payton Jones and forward Avery Damjanovic, a pair of freshmen that Vukorep says will add some punch to his offense. Damjanovic scored two goals against both Robinson and East Bay, and netted the fifth goal of her young prep career in a win over Plant City.

“We’ve been to the Region semifinals a few times now,” Vukorep says, “and it would be nice to break off and make it to the final, and maybe even the (State) final four. That’s what we’re shooting for.”

Boys Hoping To Bounce Back

The cyclical nature of high school sports at most schools can drive coaches batty. You’re up a few years, then you are down, at the mercy of the quality of each class of players that enters the school.

Wharton boys soccer coach Scott Ware knows all about that feeling. After winning an average of 15 games a season from 2006-11 — including the school’s first State championship to cap the 2007-08 season -— the Wildcats have managed just 16 wins in the past four seasons.

Ware, though, holds his hand out, palm down, and then turns it upwards a little and raises his arm.

“It’s been tough, but I think we’re back on the upswing,’’ he says.

Wharton is coming off a 4-9-2 season, but is carrying Ware’s largest team in years  — with 25 players, “And it’s a good 25,’’ he says.

His seniors, who have been on teams that have gone a combined 11-41-4 in their career, are determined to turn things around. SO far, the team is 1-1.

“I think they are taking ownership of this thing,’’ Ware says. “They are good players. It’s just that their confidence hasn’t been there. Losing takes a toll.”

The Wildcats’ two top scorers, seniors Alex Ramirez and Clifford Adjei, are back. Adjei, a strong, physical forward, had 10 goals last season and scored two in the season-opening 6-0 win over Armwood; Ramirez, a midfielder who relies on speed and finesse, chipped in with five.

Junior forward Jamal Farhoud scored twice last year and hopes for more, and the midfield will be bolstered by Donovan Quigley (three goals, four assists last season), who Ware says might be the fastest player he has ever coached. Ware is high on a trio of freshmen: Nicolas Vasquez, Sebastian Echeverry and Zachary Godbold, who are  all expected to contribute.

Defensively, Matthew Hartnell has started every game he’s played since his freshman year, and for the first time Ware is carrying three goalkeepers because the competition has been so fierce. Two newcomers, junior Enrico Dagostino and promising freshman Ethan Hernandez, are challenging Andy Ilken, who played in six games last year, for the starting job.

Wharton will once again face a challenge with a touched schedule and tough Class 5A, District 7, which includes Steinbrenner, Alonso and Wiregrass Ranch (combined record of 46-7-6 last year) as well as Palm Harbor University, the region runner-up in 2015-16.

“It won’t be easy, but our goal is to get back into the playoffs,’’ Ware says. “If they play with the confidence they have shown, that’s a possibility. The schedule is tough, though. We’ll need to get some ‘W’s early, and hopefully we build off that.”