Spartans soccer teams looking to follow up record-setting 2022
The Mountain Brook High School boys and girls soccer teams had breakthrough 2022 seasons.
The boys won the program’s first state championship, winning the Class 6A state championship in an overtime thriller over Pelham. The girls got to the playoffs, reaching the quarterfinals before falling to eventual champion Homewood.
Both teams were represented at the high school soccer media day event held at Thompson High on Jan. 25-26.
The boys team knows it has to reboot after a 25-2-2 season. Following a 3-2-2 start, the Spartans ripped off 22 straight victories to finish off the season and will carry that winning streak into 2023. But that won’t win any games for the team this year.
“It’s a new season,” head coach Joe Webb said. “We’re starting over. We have the goals that we want to get to and we’ve got to work to get to them.”
Webb brought reigning state Gatorade Player of the Year winner Jack Heaps, Henry Tabb and Vance Phillips, the MVP of the state championship game. The players said they believe they have the potential to repeat as state champions, but will have to work hard in practice every day to have any chance of replicating that success.
The players also said they know they will have a target on their backs following last season’s title. This year’s seniors include Reed Harradine, Eliot Walton, Gus Bailey, Tabb, Jack Welsh, Heaps, Phillips, Howie Eldridge, Stephen Lilly, Graham Cooper and Allen Hobbs.
Webb said he enjoys the process of learning what works best for his team as the year goes along.
“I have really no idea, and that’s what’s fun,” he said. “That’s what I enjoy the most, is figuring out what we need to do. Here’s what we look like now, but what will we look like in April?”
Mountain Brook assistant coach Anna Johnsey and five seniors represented the girls team at media day. She had high marks for Ellie Keplinger, Mackenzie Ligon, Ainsley Kelley, Breese Tierney and Lily Pate.
“They’ve all been a huge part of the team for years,” Johnsey said. “They’re leaders and go above and beyond what we ask of them. They embrace our culture and bring the younger girls along.”
The girls team did lose 10 seniors from last year’s squad, so there is quite a bit to replace this season. But this year’s seniors want to use last year as a building block to continue elevating the program.
The seniors said they want to hold themselves to high expectations — a standard that has already been set — in the hopes that the younger players will follow suit.
“They were all on the team the year before and there was a lot of continuity,” Johnsey said. “But when you do lose a lot of players, you do get a chance to redefine expectations and culture and future vision. All of the new players this year, it gives them the opportunity to do so many new things to make our mark on the program.”
Mountain Brook’s soccer teams compete in an area against Pell City, Shades Valley and Woodlawn.