PANORA — The inaugural season of boys soccer at Panorama will kick off at Tri-Center March 29, and until he sees his team in action against an opponent head coach Matt Fronapfel is not sure where the Panther strengths and weaknesses will lie.
“We are working on basics and trying to build up a certain toughness, but I will probably need a few games to see what kind of moves we might need to make,” Fronapfel said. “I have liked how hard a lot of the guys have been playing in practices and I think we have some good athletes, but they have never played together on this kind of level.”
A total of 17 players currently fill out the roster, with six seniors and two juniors joined by four sophomores and five freshmen.
Fronapfel said the Panthers will — at least for now — use an irregular formation sometimes employed by German professional teams.
Senior Dylan Perez will be out front on offense, with sophomore Sam Geo and senior Sam Webster just behind but fairly close in on the wing while senior Jacob Merschman will play back in the middle, giving the offense a diamond shape.
Freshman Trent Hambleton, senior Erik Olson and sophomore Declan McCarty will spread across the midfield, with sophomore Tanner Kuta and junior Kordell Gafkjen playing on defense while senior Blaine Barber will play a solo middle defense back near the box.
Goalkeeping duties have been assigned to sophomore Kyle Cogil.
Senior Kurtis Burns, junior Matthew Greenlee, and freshmen Tate Kunze, Cade Landry, Collin Reinhart and Connor McCarthy all vying for playing time.
“I like out attitude and think we will be ready,” Fronapfel said.
Ten of the 12 outings on the schedule will be girls/boys twin bills, with the girls game staring at 5 p.m. and the boys at 7 p.m. Both teams will be at Des Moines Hoover April 2, with the first home match slated for April 12 against Grandview Christian.
