There is a lot of optimism around the burgeoning soccer program at WACO High School. The Warriors are coming off the first season in program history, and despite a 4-9 record, WACO believes they were not far away from a much different campaign, with five of those losses coming by only one goal.

The Warriors will have back their top goal-scorers in Keiran and Tristan Luitjens. Keiran finished the season with six goals and five assists, with Tristan only one behind him in each category. Sophomores like Niles Reichenbach and Levi Bachman are also back to try and kick the attack into high gear.

But WACO’s greatest strength will be its defense. Behind the return of all-district senior defender Reece Oswald and senior goalkeeper Colton Leichty’s 134 saves, Warriors head coach Rob Shaw tells KCII Sports that his team will be able to stop the opponent long enough for their offense to come along.

“It all starts and ends with defense for us,” Shaw says. “We’re going to try to generate more offense than we did last year, but I look forward to continuing to build on what we did defensively last year.”

WACO will open the new soccer season Thursday, March 28th when they travel to face Fairfield.