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The Wildcat boys soccer team (7-13 overall, 3-7 conference) did a lot of things right this season. They played defense well, had good goalkeeping and stayed with most teams on the field of play. But they seemed to lack one important skill - the ability to put the ball in the net. Ignoring two easy wins over weak teams, the Wildcats scored just 15 goals in their other 18 games. They were shut out seven times this season and had a record of 3-6 in one-goal games.

"This was a very different year," said Wildcat head coach Mark Leigh. "Overall. It was and enjoyable season. The cupboard was a little bit bare in terms of experienced seniors. It was real interesting to have four hockey players come out as seniors. They showed signs all season of being productive players. One of them, Matt Stamos, became out leading scorer. Matt was a blessing to have on this team. "

"And the way things played out this season, we still had a chance to do something in the section playoffs. We had beaten Proctor, our quarterfinal opponent, just a couple of weeks before. But they scored twice early in the playoff game and we just didn't have the ability to recover when we were down.

Leigh talked about some of the players on this year's team. "Ben Bratrud was our most improved player," said Leigh. "This was his first year out for soccer. At the beginning of the season, he was just trying to figure out how to pass the ball. But he showed a lot of real strong natural abilities and just knew where to be. He could head the ball, hustled and could use his quickness to recover when he got beat. Shane Anderson was probably our most skilled player in terms of ball fakes and dribbling and was a strong defender for us. J.J. McGuire was a natural leader. He seemed to be the guy that would step up and get the guys going for us. Brent Hogendorf had a great attitude. He certainly wanted to play more, but had a positive way of dealing with his own situation and never complained.

"Chris Thompson was a hardnosed player who always hustled. He played tough and with abandon. His game was very physical. The team thought very highly of him. And our all-conference goalkeeper, Kyle Buchanan, made some big saves and kept us in a lot of games this season.

CONFERENCE AWARDS

All Conference

Kyle Buchanan

All Conference Honorable Mention

Chris Thompson

Matt Stamos

TEAM AWARDS

Rookie of the Year

Matt Stamos

Most Improved Player

Ben Bratrud

Mr. Defense

Shane Anderson

Mr. Hustle

Chris Thompson

Mr. Playmaker

Joey Cartier - 3 goals, 5 assists

Scoring Leader

Matt Stamos - 7 goals, 2 assists

Mr. Positive

JJ McGuire

Wildcat Award

Brent Hogendorf

Captain Awards

Kyle Buchanan, Chris Thompson, JJ McGuire

2011 Captains

Joey Cartier, Eli Trochman

Most Valuable Player

Chris Thompson

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