MRH soccer is in the spotlight

Since Maplewood Richmond Heights announced in June it was dropping its football program due to lack of interest, soccer is more in the spotlight. For one thing, the Oct. 23 home game against Valley Park will be the homecoming game and senior night.

The soccer team inherited no former football players, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Last year they finished 12-12-1, ending their season on a one-goal loss to eventual state quarterfinalist John Burroughs. Their goal this year is to win the school’s first district championship since 1986.

Senior midfielder Chris Tronicek said they’re ready. “We know football’s out, so we kind of have to be the team that steps up and brings the crowds in,” senior midfielder Chris Tronicek told the Post-Dispatch before Tuesday’s practice. “We’re happy about that. We are not afraid of that. We want that.”

The Blue Devils two leading scorers are returning: Tronicek, with 10 goals as a junior, and sophomore forward Isaac Pearson, who led Maplewood with 17 goals as a freshman.

Second-year coach Ryan Robertson said he hopes players such as Joseph Barron and Jose Verdia can contribute. Other returnees are defenders Matt Green and Gabe Jackson and all three of its goalkeepers: Isaiah Aldrich, Marlon Ramirez and Riley Sporleder.

More than half the soccer team comes from the baseball team, which won the district championship the last two years in a row. See also: MRH’s Biship no-hits Brentwood; Blue Devils win districts second year running

“I think mentally everybody’s like, ‘We can do it in baseball. Why can’t we do it in soccer?’ ” Pearson told the Post-Dispatch. “So we’re just pumped, wanting to win a district in soccer, too.”

Robertson told the Post-Dispatch the team tries to play soccer the way they play video games  — “lots of shooting, a lot of defense — and they buy into it. That’s a big thing for us. They’re not only playing soccer better, but enjoying soccer more.”

Read the full article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.