KoMets reload after aburpt ending to last season

From an overall standpoint, the Kasson-Mantorville girls soccer team had a terrific season last year. They captured the HVL championship after toppling their rival Rochester Lourdes in mid-October and earned the top seed in the Section 1AA tournament.

Unfortunately, those good vibes couldn’t continue after an opening round victory and the Eagles would get their revenge just a couple weeks later by winning in the section quarterfinals. Because of that, the KoMets are focused to get back to that point and this time make their way toward a berth in the state tournament.

“That’s a goal of ours every season,” K-M girls soccer coach Chris Soderberg stated. “We’ve been a strong enough team where it doesn’t matter what seed we get unless we go a long way in the playoffs. We want to get to that section final and hopefully get to the state tournament.”

To begin the year, it will be a challenge for the KoMets as they lose eight starters from last year’s team. While they lose a lot, Soderberg is confident that K-M will abide by the cliché of not rebuilding, but reloading.

“It’s going to be a climb,” Soderberg admitted. “But we also have a lot of seniors that are working hard and trying to make the team better by pushing each other. We have lots of talent all the way through and we have about 68 girls in the program from grades 7-12. It hasn’t been that high in years and it’s a good thing because the competition within the squad will make us better.”

The KoMets will be led by a strong trio of captains with include Lara Boyum, Allie Brekke-Diaz and Mikayla Griffin. They also have a solid core of juniors with Arie Delzer, Lexie Worden and second-year goaltender Laken Bartel.

After earning a year of experience in net last year, Soderberg