South girls soccer team looking for scorers

By Bill Knust

Scoring goals was not easy at times for Park Hill South last season.

The Panthers were blanked in their district semifinal loss to Park Hill to close out the season, and after losing the program’s all-time leading scorer, Christine Janssens, one would think it would not get much easier.

However, Park Hill South coach Joe Toigo is upbeat starting this season. The Panthers are moving last year’s Suburban Mid Six Defender of the Year junior Floxy Owere to the forward position along with sophomore Morgan Griffin. Toigo is hoping that duo along with junior Nicole Newell will help give the team some punch.

Owere and Griffin missed the first two games of the season at the Lee’s Summit North tournament because they did not have enough practices, but Toigo said both would be in the lineup this week.

“We hope they will make a difference when we start playing,” Toigo said. “As I look at our team, we have a lot of kids who can defend and pass the ball well, but we don’t have many natural goal scorers. We are hoping those kids can be those players.”

Toigo said the decision to move Owere to striker was made in the hopes of letting her be a playmaker. He also said that he feels comfortable about the move because of the defenders on the Panthers’ team. That group is led by sophomore goalkeeper Valerie Pollan, who is in her second year of starting.

“She communicates pretty well with the girls in front of her and helps organize stuff in front of her,” Toigo said. “She plays angles pretty well. Her positioning is usually pretty good.”

Park Hill South finished 1-1 at the Lee’s Summit North tournament, missing out on a third game because of rain. The Panthers won their final game of the tournament 6-0 over Raymore-Peculiar. Newell had three goals in the win and senior Megan Buri and sophomores Mackenzie Morock and Alyssa Weatherly also scored.

Lee’s Summit North knocked off Park Hill South in the first game of the year 5-0. Toigo thought his team played well except for a 10-minute stretch at the end of the first half. That stretch was the difference.

“As long as nobody got their heads down too much, I think we will be alright,” Toigo said. “I think the second half playing them toe to toe will let the kids know we can play with them. We just have to do it the whole 80 minutes because if you let down you are going to get beat by a good team.”

Sports writer Bill Knust can be reached at 389-6605 or billknust@npgco.com.