By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Like most coaches in all sports, Washburn University soccer coach Davy Phillips really appreciates the practice aspect of coaching.
But after multiple weeks of practice, Phillips knows his Ichabod players are ready for the real thing and will get that chance with a pair of non-conference battles Thursday and Saturday at Yager Stadium.
Davy Phillips' Washburn soccer team, coming off a runnerup finish in the 2023 NCAA national tournament, opens its season Thursday night at Yager Stadium. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
No. 2 nationally-ranked Washburn, the 2023 NCAA Division II runnerup, will make its 2024 debut at 6 p.m. Thursday against Missouri-St. Louis before hosting Maryville at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
"The players definitely are ready,'' Phillips said. "I like coaching and teaching the game to be honest but there's a reason we keep score and games matter. For a variety of reasons we didn't get a preseason scrimmage in, so (Thursday) is really, truly the first time out against someone else, so the girls are anxious, eager to play.
"We've been kind of building up what it means to play games, what it means to play the season, so the whole buildup is, I think, leading the girls into a very excited spot about tomorrow.''
WU is fresh off a run to the NCAA title game in 2023, compiling a 21-4-1 record and winning the MIAA regular-season championship.
Missouri-St. Louis went 8-6-3 in 2023 with a 7-4-1 record in the GLVC, falling in the GLVC tournament quarterfinals while Maryville went 14-3-4 with a 10-1-2 record in the GLVC. The Saints fell in the semifinals of the GLVC tournament, but earned a berth in the NCAA tournament, where they advanced to the second round.
Washburn returns 27 players from last year's team, while adding two transfers and one freshman to the roster.
Senior defender Jordan Tenpas (left) is a top returner for Washburn University soccer after earning first-team All-America honors last fall. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Senior defender Jordan Tenpas enters her second season at Washburn after earning USC and D2CCA first-team All-American honors along with being named to the All-MIAA first team and being named the MIAA Defender of the Year. She played 1,860 minutes with 21 starts, adding one assist.
Khloe Schuckman is back for her senior soccer season after leading Washburn with 11 goals last season en route to a national runnerup finish. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Senior Khloe Schuckman led Washburn with 27 points on 11 goals and five assists last fall and sits in second place on Washburn's career goals list with 25. In 2023 she picked up her second career All-MIAA first-team selection, while also being named a USC second-team All-American.
Former Washburn Rural star Belle Kennedy was an All-MIAA first-team pick last fall as a sophomore while Rural product Mackinly Rohn was named the MIAA co-freshman of the year for 2023 and earned second-team All-MIAA honors.
Senior Viviana Soto-Herrera earned second-team All-MIAA recognition, senior Taylor Bockover was a third-team pick and seniors Ana Muruzabal and Josie Boyle received honorable mention last season.
Washburn adds two transfers for 2024 -- junior goalkeeper Emily Levy (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) and junior defender Shayne Taylor (Minot State) -- while freshman midfielder Sam Searcey (Lincoln, Neb./Southeast) also joins the team.
Washburn Rural grad Hailey Beck is expected to draw the start in goal for the Ichabods Thursday night after seeing action in one game as a freshman while backing up four-year starter Raegan Wells.
Phillips said this week's openers will give him an idea of where his team is to start the season and where it needs to go in order to put itself back in a position to challenge for a title.
"I think (the preseason) provided a vision of what the ceiling could like that, and now it's about attacking the process and getting into the season,'' Phillips said. "There's been moments in the preseason where we've been really, really good, and then there's been moments when we need to get better.
"And I think that's what games provide is that opportunity to really see what you need to get better at as you're on this journey in the course of the season. You can think one thing, but when you get punched in the mouth you've got to quickly identify the counter punch and that's part of the games and that's what games provide so we're excited to see that so we can continue to grow.''
Washburn will be in action for the first time since a 1-0 loss to Point Loma in the 2023 NCAA Division II National Championship Game.
