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Bobcat boys soccer leans on seniors, sophomores

Just like every other spring sport in Marshalltown has dealt with early on this season, the Marshalltown boys soccer team has dealt with some less-than-ideal weather in practices so far.

Bobcats head coach Chris Fuchsen said the guys were actually able to get out and play in the first couple of weeks in practice but they’ve been relegated to the Roundhouse of late, though the team still has its spirits high.

One reason they are optimistic heading into the season is because of how much Marshalltown returns this year, as four of the team’s top five scorers from last season are all back.

“At the end of the season we started five freshmen and they are all returning and ready to go,” Fuchsen said. “We have great senior leadership, especially out of Frankie Ramirez and Ricky Ibarra. Those are our two captains and our third is Tony Angel, the team voted him in, so we have some good leadership and are building on experience.”

That mix of young talent and seniors to lead the way is a coaches dream, and something Fuchsen said he is lucky to have. Specifically when it comes to the returning sophomore class, he said quite a few guys have come a long way since they were last on the pitch and he’s excited to see what they are bringing this season.

“Rene Hernandez is a sophomore, he was one of those freshman group same with Jose Torres of course,” Fuchsen said. “Then Austin Shomo has really showed consistency and great work ethic, that’s a tremendous group right there, those guys coming back as sophomores gives a lot of upside to us for the future.”

This season Fuchsen said the team will likely be running variants of a 4-3-3 formation, with three attackers always up front. He said the reason they can run an aggressive attacking formation is because of they options they have to put the ball in the back of the net.

“We have a lot of weapons that we can mix and match,” Fuchsen said. “Up top and from the middle to the back line we should be pretty solid and consistent, it’s just getting our legs under us and getting used to playing on a proper pitch.”

Of course no team is complete without a proper defense, and Ibarra will be holding down the defensive backline for the Bobcats for yet another season. Playing between the posts, however, will be a bit of a newcomer, as sophomore Jesus Muñoz will be starting at goalkeeper to kick off the season.

“Jesus has shown a lot of growth so he is going to start out in the nets to give him some experience,” Fuchsen said. “We have Ricky who will be manning our backline, have to keep him on the pitch as much as I can but if there is an injury or something we have him available.”

It might seem untraditional to start such a young player at an important position, but Fuchsen said he has faith in Muños in the goal and he has the right attitude to be successful.

“It’s always going to be a learning experience and that’s what I want to build on,” Fuchsen said. “The goalkeeper position seems to be a rare commodity in this town so you have a kid who’s dedicated to the craft and is a tremendous kid as well, so he deserves a shot to give it a go and if anything he will have that valuable experience.”

Fuchsen himself got some unique experience this fall, as he took over the men’s soccer program at Marshalltown Community College midway through the season after Tigers head coach Rafael Martinez had to step away to be with his son Pablo, who was diagnosed with cancer.

“Obviously the situation in the fall was unfortunate but at the same time it was a great experience for me to step up and work with that caliber of a team,” he said of taking over a program ranked in the top 20 of the NJCAA for most of the season. “It’s definitely a different animal but I am always open to learn. That’s what I try to preach to these kids to take every day as a day to grow and a day to learn and build upon experiences, whether they are positive or negative.”

With the program at MCC and the multiple youth programs around, soccer has grown quite a bit in Marshalltown and Fuchsen said it’s obvious with his athletes.

“With the futsal courts being built too, it’s all part of the project here,” Fuchsen said. “Giving younger kids a belief that there is options to chase their passion and build goals and have platforms that they feel they can display their talent on.”

Up first for the Bobcats will be a match against Iowa City Liberty, a brand new program competing in its first year. The original start date was supposed to be nearly a week and a half earlier for MHS, but Fuchsen said he doesn’t mind the extra time to get ready.

“We were originally thinking our first game was going to be on March 26th and right before spring break we found out that wasn’t going to be the case so that gave us an extra week to prepare, but then things got pushed back and we will see what happens on Friday,” he said. “Let’s hope we can get the ball rolling, but these guys are ready to get after someone else and we are ready to get winter behind us that’s for sure.”

Facing a team that has yet to compete in the Liberty, Fuchsen said it’s not necessarily ideal to prepare against but considering this is the first game for his squad he’s more worried about how they look on the pitch.

“We are going to take every team earnestly and have at them, we know that we are going to be dangerous to whoever we faced and what we want to focus on is on ourselves,” Fuchsen said. “Building our team and making sure we are able to prepare for our season and be our best at the end of the season. We will take it one game at a time.”

Marshalltown will start the season on Friday against Iowa City Liberty as part of a girl-boy doubleheader, with the boys taking over at 7 p.m. after the girls at 5:30, weather permitting.

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