Platte County’s once-promising season ended in a blur of an injury to the team’s leading scorer, a red card for the athletic senior goalkeeper and a questionable penalty awarded in overtime of a chaotically eventful Class 3 District 8 semifinal. The host Raiders converted on the attempt from the spot in a sudden-death movement.
Platte County senior forward Gavin Nichols celebrates a goal against Pembroke Hill in a Class 3 District 8 semifinal last year in Kansas City.
A nine-game winning streak came to an end in difficult circumstances, and Platte County must again move forward minus five seniors and two other contributors. The Pirates have won 36 games over the past two seasons but came up short of the playoffs both times.
“As a whole, we are looking forward to the upcoming season,” Platte County veteran coach Ashlyn Brantley said. “Our old and new players are meshing well and believe
we will bring it all together to have some fun and play good soccer this season.”
Indeed, Platte County won’t be starting from scratch even without six players who started a significant portion of last fall’s 16-6 campaign. The Pirates’ quickly rebuilt from a 20-4 season in 2021, thanks in large part to the play of Aaron Cordova.
Platte County senior midfielder AJ Schrick dribbles between defenders during a Class 3 District 8 semifinal last season in Kansas City.
After starting for Platte County as a freshman during the best season to date in program history (Class 3 state runnerup), Cordova pursued other opportunities for soccer out of high school for two years before moving back home that ended with a Class 3 state runnerup finish. He dealt with a nagging quad injury early in the season but recorded three hat tricks during the nine-game win streak that turned the season around and finished with team-highs of 22 goals and 14 assists and earned Missouri State High School Soccer Coaches Association all-state honors.
Cordova formed a formidable offensive pairing with now-senior forward Gavin Nichols, Platte County’s leading scorer two years ago as a sophomore who ended last year with 11 goals and seven assists. He earned all-conference honors, as did fellow seniors Connor Currence and AJ Schrick.
Platte County sophomore defender Jackson Goodale battles for position against Pembroke Hill in a Class 3 District 8 semifinal last year in Kansas City.
Currence scored once but played an anchoring role in defensive midfield in a first full season as a starter. Schrick recorded six goals and two assists as a versatile playmaker for the Pirates, who were very balanced behind the two top two.
Platte County also returns speedy senior Josh Nelson (seven goals, four assists) as an attacking midfielder plus sophomore returning starters Jackson Goodale (second-team all-conference defender) and Cameron Habel (honorable mention midfielder). From there, the Pirates return a contingent of contributors likely to play a bigger role, including senior defender Daniel Bunge — an occasional starter who received plenty of action due to injuries and other absences in a somewhat volatile season for roster attrition.
Brantley also expects senior midfielder Andrew Reinsch (one goal), junior midfielder Julian Nemeth and sophomore forward Jonathan Ibarra to compete for starting spots.
Platte County’s other newcomers expected to contribute include junior forward Tug Thornton, sophomore midfielders Abe Norman and Ian Mathews, freshman midfielder Ryan Waldman, senior defender Fabian Risager and junior defender Bresner Garcia.
Platte County senior defender Daniel Bunge hits a pass during a game last season in Smithville.
“In order for us to be successful, we will need our leaders to step up, using positive communication,” Brantley said. “We need to play to our strengths, which are possessing, staying relaxed on the ball, and creating space. I believe we have strong
attacking players who will create many opportunities, and we will need to finish them.
“On the defensive side we had some gaps to fill from last season, and are confident in the players stepping into those roles.”
While Cordova represents the most notable loss, Platte County also must replace defenders Mark Wiesehan and Joseph Ibarra — the only other holdover from the 2019 run to the state championship game. A deep midfield unit last year also included graduated senior Felix Victore (four goals, three assists) and Ahoy Victore (three goals, four assists) and Jack Klippenstein (one goal, one assist). Ahoy Victore and Klippenstein did not return to the roster.
Platte County also must install a new goalkeeper for a third straight year after losing Jordan Hedrick, who came out for one year and made an instant impact as an all-conference and all-district performer. Teammates recruited him to fill a void, and he displayed the athletic acumen that also made him a standout baseball player. The Pirates will turn to juniors Aidan Murray and Paul Havemeier to sort out the goalkeeping duties this year.
Platte County senior midfielder Josh Nelson hits a shot in a Class 3 District 8 semifinal against Pembroke Hill in Kansas City.
Havemeier showed well while filling in for Hedrick during a three-game span in the regular season while he recovered from a concussion. That included a penalty kick shootout win over Grain Valley that helped Platte County win the Suburban Conference White Division title. Havemeier also ended up in goal for the conclusion of the district loss to Pembroke Hill after Hedrick’s red card for a foul committed after he came off his line to try and sweep out a long ball from Pembroke Hill.
Havemeier gave valiant effort to try and stop the decisive penalty kick, but the Raiders advanced and suffered a 4-1 loss to KC East in the title game. East went on to reach the Class 3 state championship game and finished as state runnerup.
Platte County held the No. 2 seed in the district and would have faced a stiff challenge from East, which won the regular season meeting between the two teams. The Pirates know the district competition will likely be stout again but have eyes on breaking a frustrating three-year playoff drought.
