Encore performances are often the most demanding. That’s what’s commanded of the Neosho County Panthers men’s soccer club this fall.
Coming off a KJCCC title and NJCAA national runner-up finish, the best ever for a team sport in school history, the Panthers take the pitch with the brightest of spotlights.
“A lot of people would have been happy with the season. But as a group, our thought process is that the job wasn’t done,” Neosho County head coach Elliot Chadderton said. “I’m telling that to the guys all the time. We can look back and talk about the past. But now it’s in the past. Going into a new season, it’s great to get out there. But we can’t live on last year. We’ve got to step on. The guys coming in have embraced our success, but it’s about what we can do moving forward.”
After falling, 2-1, in the NJCAA Division II national championship match to Northeast last year, it’s impossible for the Panthers to escape the burden of high expectations.
The weight of that load can make any setback over the course of the fall destabilizing.
“We’ve got to stay level headed,” Chadderton said. “We can’t go too high after wins or too low after a loss. We’ll keep moving on to the next game. We all know what our goals are. But you put that in the back pocket. The only way to the final outcome is taking each day as it comes. We can’t force things or worry about the pressure. If you make a mistake, the season isn’t over. Last year, we lost our second game of the year. There’s a lot of football to be played.”
Putting the 2024 campaign in the rearview mirror is one of Chadderton’s top priorities.
“We’ll take it one game at a time and not be too eager to look back in the past,” Chadderton said. “We can’t think that just because we did it once, we can do it again.”
Neosho County’s success on the pitch fueled its offseason recruiting efforts. Chadderton believes that this year’s edition of the Panthers are deeper.
“We’ve got more depth this year,” Chadderton said. “The level doesn’t drop when I play more guys. In tight games, I can make changes and the level will stay constant. There were times last year I felt like we didn’t have that.”
The allure of competing among the nation’s elite made siphoning through available players challenging.
“It gave us an advantage, but you’ve got to be selective with the players,” Chadderton said. “We had to make sure we were getting the right players that fit the right model. It may be attractive for a great player, but if they can’t hold our values, they don’t interest me. It almost made recruiting harder. There were guys that would’ve said no that now want to come into the door. But I need guys that buy in from Day 1. We want fast, athletic players that punish teams.”
Chadderton’s emphasis with the new players was speed.
“We had a couple of fast players last year, but I didn’t have the depth with our subs that could maintain that pace,” Chadderton said. “Now I have five or six guys on the wing that can do that. But we’ve still got work to do.”
Callum Niven, a returning First Team NJCAA All-American striker, is the Panthers’ centerpiece. As a freshman, Niven tallied 24 goals, including three hat tricks.
With Niven’s profile, clubs will throw the kitchen sink at Neosho County to try and mitigate his contributions.
“Callum will always score goals,” Chadderton said. “That’s what he does. We’ve got better players to help around him. That’ll open up gaps for guys to make plays on the ball. And they won’t be able to just keep him marked all game if other guys are making plays. Callum is a mature guy who knows what he can do on a dayto-day basis.”
While Neosho County lost a pair of First Team All-Americans in Joe Taylor and goalkeeper Grant Thackray, the Panthers sport plenty of returning talent.
Luke Butcher, Paul Eder, Zak Kersey, Lloyd Baker, Collin Klein, Robin Swagemakers, Zak ElHannach, Malique Roach, Lucas Postma and Lucas Comitre make up the sophomore class for the Panthers.
“We’ve got a great corps of guys who played last year,” Chadderton said. “They understand the demands of the season. I’ll lean on them a little more. But I don’t want to give them too much pressure. I want them to enjoy themselves and then drag the new guys along.”
Keeper Josh Bogan, also a sophomore from Scotland, replaces Thackray in net.
“I always want two good keepers on the roster every year,” Chadderton said. “I need them to push each other. Josh did really well last year and got some playing time. He knows what we’re about and knows how we want to play. He’ll be just fine. He’s a great goalkeeper all around. I’ve got the same expectations for him that I had for Grant last year.”
The freshmen on Neosho County’s roster include Keelan Coleman, Chris Armitage, Miller Smith, Danny Carroll, Adam Larkin, Benjamin Rick, Rhys Brunton, CJ Brown, Liam Keeble, Cohen Izzard, Alex Helgi, Keane Hazeldine, Patrick Musore, Filip Edman, Danis Alvarez, Bailey Mapletoft, Seth Lovitt, James Carey, Malte Wall, Yuki Suzuki, Jed Ashley, Joe Pate, Leonardo Marin and Jacob Corwin.
Neosho County’s season starts on Aug. 22 with a trip to Indianapolis to face Patrick Henry College. The Panthers first home match is on Aug. 30 against Western Iowa Tech.
“It’s not all about the final outcome,” Chadderton said. “The results will take care of themselves — winning conferences and getting to the national tournament — if we take it one game at a time. We spoke about it Day 1, but now we won’t speak about it again. We’ve got a good squad and I think we’ll do OK this year. But I want them to enjoy football, because that’s when they’ll play their best.”
