Zumwalt East Girls Finish Season With Winning Mark

The Fort Zumwalt East Lady Lions soccer team managed a winning record in 2011.

With the number of returning players and standout underclassmen, the Lions should continue to blaze a trail of success next year.

“This wasn’t a bad year for us at all,” Lady Lions head coach Seth Wilber said. “We lost seven games by one goal. We also improved defensively from last year.”

Zumwalt East allowed 33 goals last year and 23 this year, said Wilber. The Lady Lions lose just one senior— forward Haley Rodgers—off of a team that went 15-10 overall and 6-1 in the Gateway Athletic North Conference. St. Charles won the GACN and was followed by Fort Zumwalt East, Duchesne, Fort Zumwalt South, Washington, Fort Zumwalt North, St. Charles, and Warrenton. The Lady Lions return 14 juniors next year: forwards Cortney Staten and Jessica Bailey, midfielders Jessica Seiler, Jessica Mincher, Monica Bittner, defenders Megan Reis, Erica Morrissey, Jenny Krug, Katie Harris, Alex Gronek, Felicia Ferracane, Mackenzie Cork, Brianna Andert, and goalkeeper Jordan Gnolfo.

“We’re going to have some experienced girls back next year,” Wilber said. “The experience started paying off this year. We didn’t get blown out as much as we did last year.”

Wilber also said his juniors have large aspirations—to win the state tournament.

“One of the things we’ll have to learn to do next year is to score timely goals,” he said.

Zumwalt East loses its top scorer—Rodgers—who finished the year with nine goals and 11 assists.

“I can’t say enough about Haley Rodgers,” Wilber said. “She’s the only girl who started with this program four years ago and stayed with us. The girls on the team have voted her most valuable player four times and she’s done a great job of leading the players a grade below her. We’re going to miss her.”

Rodgers will continue her career at North Park University, a Division III school in Chicago, next year. The senior also made the second team of the all-GACN girl’s soccer team.  

Seiler, Gnolfo, and Andert were voted onto the first team of the all-conference girl’s soccer team. Seiler finished the season with eight goals and six assists. Gnolfo compiled a 14-6 record as a goalkeeper and recorded 10 shutouts and 79 saves. Reis and sophomore midfielder Janie Booth made the second team of the conference. Booth recorded four goals and seven assists in the 2011 campaign. Mincher—who netted six goals and recorded seven assists—made the honorable mention list of the conference.