Greenon girls soccer benefits from changes

Much has changed for the Greenon girls soccer team in the last year, and for the better. The Knights have a new coach and a new training regimen, which have led to new results.

Greenon secured its first outright Central Buckeye Conference Mad River Division title since 2008 in its last season in the league as part of a turnaround that has seen improvement from 6-7-4 last season to its 13-3 mark heading into Saturday’s second-round sectional game with Bellefontaine.

The Knights had finished second to Northwestern in five of the last six seasons, sharing the title with the Warriors in 2013. The impetus for this year’s rise to the top is first-year coach Jamie Wiggins. A former Knight player under then-coach John Teter who went on to play at Ohio State, she has been a perfect “fit.” Literally.

“I stress fitness first,” said Wiggins. “The fitter we are, the more we can get out of each other.

“Fitness first, then discipline and chemistry; those three things have built a trust between the girls and myself,” she added.

It all starts in practice.

“Every training session and practice is finely tuned,” said Wiggins. “We stress fitness and technical work first, then move to a theme that changes every day, and the third part is a scrimmage.”

That carries over into their games.

“Even in our warm-up, we want the girls to do everything complete, from stretching well, to one- and two-touch passing to footwork,” said Wiggins. “All is done at game pace, at the best of our ability.

“We work so much on fitness, that energy (during the game) is not an issue,” she continued. “By the time we start the game, we have our second wind.”

All 24 players, including 19 sophomores and freshmen, see action in most of the games.

“Those who aren’t starting are preparing our starters for the game, and that has played a huge role in our success,” said Wiggins.

Mad River player of the year Kaliyah Fulton, a senior, leads the offense with 22 goals and 5 assists for a CBC-leading 49 points. Delaney Benedict (10 goals and 8 assists) and Claire Wilson (9 goals and 4 assists) are also big contributors offensively.

Anchoring the defense is goalkeeper Ally Whitaker, who has given up 13 goals in 15 games, with 8 shutouts and 84 saves.

“I went into the season thinking we were very young,” Wiggins said. “But none of them have complained about what I have asked them to do. That has contributed greatly to our turnaround.”

Boys improve, too: The boys team lost its late-season grip on a CBC Mad River title with a 1-0 loss at Ben Logan last Wednesday. But that still doesn't minimize the positive steps they've taken in 2016.

The Knights took an 11-3-2 record and the No. 1 seed into Thursday night’s second-round Springfield sectional game with Urbana. That’s quite an improvement over 2015’s 8-7-3 mark.

“We have a very tight group of seniors, and we have been reaping the benefits of their leadership,” said 12th-year coach Jeff Nickles. “We also had a formation shift this year, to fend of some of the goals we had surrendered last year.

“We went from a sweeper system to a flatback four,” he continued. “Rather than your traditional sweeper who chases down anyone who gets loose, the flatback four is more of a zone defense. It keeps offenses at bay by slowing down their rhythm.”

James Fulton (13 goals, 3 assists) and Chris Baird (12 goals, 5 assists) each tallied 28 points in the regular season to lead the team, while David Waag (8 goals, 9 assists) added 25.

Defensively, Andrew Conover has surrendered 21 goals in 16 games, with 4 shutouts and 78 saves.

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