ASHLEY NYDEGGER fights for possession on Monday against Humboldt in the team’s 2023 home opener. (DFJ photo by Tyler Anderson)

To say that the Webster City girls’ soccer has plenty of youth within their ranks is an understatement.

When the Lynx kicked off their season this past week against Boone, only one senior — Abby Gallentine — was on the roster of 16. However, Gallentine is not the lone upperclassman on the squad.

The purple and gold possess juniors Addyson Beaulieu, Jillian Symens, Kamey Stanley, Caitlyn Gapp, Joleah Stuhr and Brooklyn Griffith. While there are a good number of juniors, the Lynx are young — with four sophomores and four freshmen.

Furthermore, five on the roster are completely new to high school soccer.

With plenty of new faces, WCHS head girls’ soccer coach Chad Vogelbacher has plenty of work on his hands. Even with an 0-3 record and an 0-2 mark within the North Central Conference to start their season, Vogelbacher has seen plenty of strides from his team.

The development can be seen in their score lines, as the Lynx improved from being shut out against Boone to knocking in three goals against Garner-Hayfield-Ventura.

“We’re definitely young,” Vogelbacher said. “However, (Abby Gallentine) has earned three letters, and she brings a lot of experience. The other returning letterwinners are good players, and they know what’s going on.”

“We are a smaller team, though,” Vogelbacher added, noting the Lynx’s lack of depth.

In their regular season debut against Boone, which took place on March 28, the Lynx did lose Symens due to injury. This trimmed the Webster City roster down to just 15 suiting up for varsity.

Despite losing Symens and having a negative goal differential, the Webster City side does have solid goalkeeper play from Beaulieu and Stuhr. Bealieu manned the net against Boone and G-H-V, before Stuhr made saves against Humboldt.

“This will be (Bealieu’s) second year of playing goalie, and she had really good games against Boone and G-H-V,” Vogelbacher said. “We lost both games, but she kept them from really getting out of hand.”

“Our whole back row is new,” Vogelbacher continued. “Not only are they new, but they also have never been out for soccer.”

Vogelbacher also noted that his entire midfield returned for the 2023 season. The Lynx did hit a major bump in the road, losing Symens in the opening moments against Boone.

“(Symens) is a good scorer, even though we lost her for a while,” Vogelbacher said. “We really miss that. Right now, we’ve placed (Janey Putney) there. She looks fast, she looks explosive and she gives us opportunities to score.”

Alongside Putney is sophomore Olivia Gallentine, which Vogelbacher also praised.

“She’s just a strong player, and most of the offense goes through her,” said Vogelbacher. “She’s a good ballplayer, passes well and scores from inside, outside and just by beating out her opponents.”

Sydney Oswald and Mia Hansen are returning for their sophomore campaigns.

“They looked really good out on the field, and their ball handling is getting better and better,” Vogelbacher said.

Even though there are plenty of potential weapons, Vogelbacher wants his side to clamp down on their opponents as the season continues.

“Our challenge this year is to play good defense,” said Vogelbacher. “We want to focus on positioning, moving the ball up the field, and creating shots on goal.”

The NCC is stacked, though. The league boasts Clear Lake, defending champion Iowa Falls-Alden, Hampton-Dumont-CAL and Humboldt, along with affiliates in Garner-Hayfield-Ventura and Belmond-Klemme.

“Iowa Falls-Alden won the title last year, and went undefeated, so they’ll be the team to beat,” Vogelbacher said. “It’s a really good league, from top to bottom.”

What Vogelbacher wants to see, is improvement and a few victories along the way.

“We finished fifth last year, but we’d like to shoot for being in the top half in our conference. We certainly have a chance.”

“Our team is very competitive, and last year, we’d lose by a goal or by a last second goal,” Vogelbacher. “We were 4-7 last year, but we want to finish over .500. Overall, we want to focus on getting better and turn the corner, but we have to bring a lot of newcomers up to speed.”

WEBSTER CITY LYNX GIRLS SOCCER SCHEDULE

March 28 @ Boone L, 6-0

March 30 @ Garner-Hayfield-Ventura L, 8-3

April 3 Humboldt

April 6 Clear Lake Lynx Field

April 10 @ Belmond-Klemme Belmond

April 13 @ Hampton-Dumont-CAL Hampton

April 17 @ Iowa Falls-Alden Iowa Falls

April 20 @ Mason City Mason City

April 24 Garner-Hayfield-Ventura Lynx Field

April 25 Columbus Catholic Lynx Field

April 27 @ Humboldt Humboldt

May 5 Belmond-Klemme Lynx Field

May 8 Hampton-Dumont-CAL Lynx Field

May 11 Iowa Falls-Alden Lynx Field

May 15 @ Clear Lake Clear Lake

May 19 Regionals TBA

May 23 Regionals TBA

May 25 Regional Finals TBA