Photo by Kyle Parmley.
Mountain Brook head coach Joe Webb said he is excited about the potential of this year’s team.
The 2016 high school soccer season was a new experience for Mountain Brook head coach Joe Webb. The Spartans faced an uphill battle all year long and finished with the first losing season in Webb’s tenure.
The situation the team was in made the final result at the end of the season not desired, but not terribly surprising.
“Last year’s team was young in terms of experience,” Webb said. “We had graduated so many [in 2015] that we only returned two players that had ever played in a varsity game before.”
With that being said, it’s not like Mountain Brook was not competitive. The Spartans were, and Webb enjoyed watching his guys grow, develop and gain experience in those key moments of games.
The Spartans even had six seniors graduate from last year’s team, but Webb is excited about who is returning.
“The returnees from last year grew up a lot and will be even better going into this year,” he said.
One of those seniors was Jake Ruttenberg, whose leadership will be missed. Webb was impressed with the senior class as a whole, and how its character was proven day after day.
“The ability of the rest to fight their guts out every day, and then sometimes have to put disappointment behind them to fight again the next day, was fun to be a part of,” he said.
Webb said he hopes to bring those lessons learned from 2016 into 2017 and combine it with the on-field talent the Spartans possess.
“We would love to have the grit of last year’s group to go with the potential of this year’s team,” he said.
As far as specific players are concerned, the conversation begins with Eli Sellers, the Spartans’ captain last season as a sophomore. He will be counted on in a big way once again, even as he makes a position change to being a defender. Mason Hemstreet, Ethan Harradine and Selim Tunagur are three guys that are set to carry the midfield for the Spartans. JT Jones and Sam Nichols are two others who will make waves.
The Spartans’ talent level within the program is so deep that Webb said he believes a few freshmen (Sam Rysedorph and Pirmin Blattmann) and an eighth-grader (Patrick Neil) may even have the opportunity to crack the lineup.
It is always easy to look at the identifiable measuring sticks when evaluating teams and players, because goals, assists and saves show up on the stat sheet. But Webb encourages his team to look deeper and to focus on more specific details.
“Win your one-on-one battles; look to deny or limit clear chances for the opponent, and create chances for teammates and then capitalize when those chances present themselves,” he said of smaller goals players can shoot for.
Perhaps one of the biggest roadblocks to Mountain Brook’s success this spring will be its area in Class 7A. The Spartans are competing against reigning state champion Oak Mountain and Spain Park — the top-ranked and No. 3 team in the Eurosport Scoreboard Class 7A preseason rankings, respectively — along with Huffman. Only two teams from each area advance to the postseason.
“It’s a great opportunity to test ourselves and see where we can go,” Webb said.
The Spartans opened their season on Feb. 13, as they knocked off Class 6A No. 12 Chelsea, 3-0.
In March, Mountain Brook will get its first look at its top two area opponents. The Spartans travel to Spain Park on March 2 and to Oak Mountain on March 23.
