It would have been easy for the Red Devils women’s soccer team to hang their heads early this season when they were beset by injuries and got off to a 1-6 start including an 11-2 conference loss to Butler Community College.
While the injuries remain for the Red Devils, the losing hasn’t.
After a double overtime victory on the road over Coffeyville Community College, the Red Devils returned home on Monday for a rivalry game against Neosho County Community College and rolled the Panthers, 6-1.
“I’m really happy with the result and that we were able to put some goals in,” Allen coach Jeremy McGinnis said. “It is nice to see that we can still win and win big with all of our injuries.”
Maddie McDaniel is currently out with a concussion and Sadie Harper has a broken fibula. Several other players have injuries that they are playing through and midfielder Shekinah Flores was injured during the game with the Panthers.
Freshman Brynn Suddeth — who is suffering from a nagging hip injury — scored five goals in the contest and now has 12 for the season.
“My teammates are playing me great balls,” Suddeth said. “They are the ones supporting me to get my goals.”
The Allen star says that she feels her team is just now coming into its own this season and that the future is bright for the Red Devils, who are now 3-6 overall with a 2-1 conference mark.
“We are starting to glue,” Suddeth said. “We started off a little rocky with 13 freshmen and only 5 sophomores, then one of the sophomores got injured and we have a lot of sickness and injuries going around, but now everyone is starting to recover, even though everyone still has little issues, we just work around them, help each other out and pick each other up.”
Allen jumped out to a 3-0 lead at halftime, but McGinnis wasn’t satisfied with that margin during the break and implored his team to dash out any Panther hopes early in the second half.
“The biggest thing is the development of the players and that is what we talked about at halftime,” McGinnis said. “I told them that I don’t really care what the score is, I care about their development and work, and that really wasn’t where it needed to be.”
His squad got the message and opened the second half with four-straight goals and built a 7-0 lead, before the Panthers got a goal late to avoid the shutout.
McGinnis likes where his team is headed offensively with Suddeth, Ira Taylor and Leigh-Anne Bartlett all in the lineup at forward now, even if they are all still battling injuries.
“We took a little bit of a step back with Leigh-Anne being out,” McGinnis said. “When they are all out there though, we are very, very dangerous.”
The confidence now appears to be growing for the Red Devils as they enter the heart of their schedule.
“It always helps when you can win,” McGinnis said. “That is part of the recipe of good teams. Even when you don’t play well, you still win. That says something about us, because we didn’t play so great, but still won 6-1.”
NEOSHO CC MEN 3, ALLEN 2
The Red Devil men’s team lost a close one on Monday to the Panthers, 3-2.
Jordan Velasco scored both Red Devil goals to add to his team-leading goal count. The sophomore now has seven on the season.
Austin George and Carter Metzger each had assists for Allen.
Sergio Echeverri had fives saves for the Red Devils.
UP NEXT
Both Allen squads are back in action Saturday at Johnson County Community College.
