GALION — Coach Cole Plumb is glad to see an uptick in numbers for the Galion High School girls soccer program this summer.
Plumb, who is entering his third season as head coach of the Tigers girls squad, said 22 players are currently on the preseason roster, marking a dramatic increase from 2020.
Plumb noted that he’s been pleased with the overall progress of the program during his tenure.
“I’ve seen a lot of growth since I’ve been here,” Plumb said. “Last year we didn’t have any seniors, so it was a super-young team. We had 14 girls on our team and seven of them were freshmen that had never played before. So just seeing them from the start of last year until now, it’s just a huge difference. And we’re getting more girls out to play. Like I said, last year we had 14, now we have 22. Soccer is becoming a lot bigger here in Galion, which is just awesome to see.”
With an expanded roster, Plumb said he’s now able to incorporate much more into his practice sessions for the Galion girls squad.
“Last year I wanted to do intra-squad scrimmages, but it’s hard with 14, so we always played 7-on-7,” he explained. “But it was hard for them to get used to playing on a full field. So now this year, we can have 11-on-11 scrimmages intra-squad, so that’s going to help a lot more when we actually play a game.”
Plumb said the 2020 season was a rebuilding year for the program with so many inexperienced players on the roster. But he liked what he saw overall.
“Six of the seven freshmen we had on the team started, so it was really new for everybody,” Plumb said. “But it was encouraging just seeing them improve, their passes getting better, their chemistry getting better from the first game until the very end. We have a lot of good players that are going to help our team this year.”
Plumb said there are 10 new players with the program this summer. He said he plans to conduct workouts three or four evenings a week in order to help build chemistry between the returning players and the new additions to the team.
“We’re definitely going to work on defense this year. We struggled with that last year,” he said. “I think if we can improve our defense, our offense will come along with that.”
Adriana Zeger was a second-team Division II All-District honoree and a second-team All-Mid Ohio Athletic Conference selection as a junior in 2020.
Mia Felder received honorable mention in both the All-District and All-MOAC voting following her freshman season.
Goalkeeper Rilynn Keinath also received honorable mention in the All-District voting. During her freshman campaign, she recorded 131 saves, fourth-best total in the MOAC.
In an effort to get more youth involved in soccer locally, Plumb said he and Galion High School boys soccer coach Eric Palmer are working with the Galion Community Center YMCA to reach more children with the game.
“If kids start playing when they’re in high school, it’s going to be hard to compete with other schools whose kids have been playing since they were three, four, five yearsold,” he said. “If we can get more youth involved, that will help us improve the level of play at the high school.”
The 2021 Galion High School girls soccer season is scheduled to open with a road match on Saturday, Aug. 21 at Loudonville. The first home match is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 24 against Tiffin Columbian.
MOAC play begins on Tuesday, Aug. 31 with a home match against Marion Harding.
Galion High School Girls Soccer Schedule 2021
(All home matches played at Galion Middle School)
Saturday, Aug. 21 at Loudonville, 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 24 vs. Tiffin Columbian, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 31 vs. Marion Harding (MOAC), 5 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 4 vs. Pleasant (MOAC), 12 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept. 7 at Clear Fork (MOAC), 7 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 11 at Bowsher, 11 a.m.
Monday, Sept. 13 at Shelby (MOAC), 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 15 vs. Highland, 5 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 20 at Ontario (MOAC), 7 p.m.
Monday, Sept. 27 at Highland (MOAC), 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Sept. 29 vs. St. Peter’s, 5 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 2 at Upper Sandusky, 10 a.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 5 vs. Mansfield Senior, 5 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 9 at Kenton, 6 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 12 at River Valley, 7 p.m.
