Every year, it is always Emporia High girls soccer coach John Decker’s goal to field a team where the scoring comes from all different places at all different angles — from all different players.
If that is Decker’s aim, it would seem he certainly has found that team in this year’s squad.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, Decker’s Lady Spartans have had 12 different players score at least one goal this season out of a lineup that regularly runs just 13 players deep. That kind of production has helped the EHS girls soccer team to a 7-5-1 record so far, with three regular-season matchups remaining before Regionals begin.
“As I look back at the history of my teams, there have usually been quite a few people that score. That’s just sort of the way I coach,” Decker said. “I’d hate to be a team that’s one dimensional, where you have one scorer, or maybe two scorers, because it’d be too easy for teams to mark them and take them out of the game.
“But for this team to be successful, we need a lot of people to score. That’s how we were going to win.”
The Lady Spartans’ scoring production has been so wide-spread this season thanks in large part to the system Decker runs.
Partly because he believes his players have the versatility, and partly because he is short on depth, Decker often rotates players from forward to midfielder to defender and back again throughout games. The constant circuit, Decker says, not only gives his players a chance to catch their breath every now and then, but it also “is harder to defend when you’ve got different talents coming and attacking in different ways.”
Not that the players mind.
“I think we’re all pretty used to playing different positions,” senior midfielder Jessica Decker said, “and it helps us out because we don’t sub much, so getting rest sometimes in different places is nice.
“We can put pretty much anyone we need to up there and expect goals from them.”
One player this season has been productive no matter where she lines up on the field.
Sophomore Jordan Sosa leads the team with 11 goals this season, accounting for 40 percent of the team’s scoring. The next closest in goals scored are Jessica Decker and senior Kylie White, who each have three.
Sosa was on a tear last week, scoring eight goals in three games.
“I’ve been getting a lot of good through balls to put into the net,” Sosa said. “Lately, we’ve just been playing together better, so we’ve been getting more balls up toward the net. We’re just getting more opportunities to score.”
As the postseason looms, Coach Decker said he would like to continue to build depth, as many players on the team play a full 80 minutes per game.
With the way this season has gone, that might not be such a bad thing. After all, more players could mean even more goals for the Lady Spartans.
“I’m asking a lot of the girls,” he said, “but that’s what we need.”