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| Pannell gets ready for 2016 season |
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7/15/2016
By Dan Manley
Advocate Sports Editor
Nick Pannell is a strategy guy.
He’s coaching the right sport.
Pannell is preparing to enter his 12th season as the head soccer coach at Montgomery County, facing perhaps one of his biggest coaching challenges to date. Although he’s really not saying that.
The Indians made a run to the state tournament a year ago where they lost to Covington Catholic, on the road, 3-2, in the round of 16. Covington Catholic out-scored the next three opponents 10-1 and won the state title.
The Tribe graduated a robust 11 members of that team and the equivalent of eight starting players. That came on the heels of a 2014 season when the Indians went 20-3-1, and lost to Scott High in the regional championship game only to watch the Eagles make it all the way to the state title game where they lost to Bowling Green, 6-4. In 2014 the Tribe had graduated another 11 seniors.
That’s two season, a combined record of 39-6-2, season-ending losses in the playoffs to the state champion and state runner-up and 22 players that move on.
For most programs, particularly in soccer in a county school program in the eastern half of the state, that would spell “rebuilding program ahead”.
That simply isn’t in Nick Pannell’s nature, nor that of his assistant coaches.
So even though the now veteran coach has to admit that his team will be a little young and a little inexperienced for 2016, he’s not conceding anything just yet.
When the Tribe gets back to practice next week after the “dead period” for high school sports, Pannell will have a new alignment in mind, maybe a few position changes and a different plan of attack for his squad. The only thing that won’t change are the coach’s expectations.
“Oh, I think we can be a very good team again, we can win a lot of games and we can be ready at the end of the season to compete at a very high level,” Pannell said.
That’s not to say that the road ahead is going to be easy.
“I don’t think there are very many people in my position that wouldn’t have a few sleepless nights wondering how you replace a Caswell Fuller,” Pannell noted. “But we’ve got guys that have practiced against him, have watched him, and collectively I’m confident they’ll step up and fill the gap.”
Fuller teamed up with fellow senior Alex Shkraba to give the Indians the most dominant scoring tandem in school history. Fuller, with 21 goals and 21 assists and Shkraba with 29 and 10, respectively, were a hard duo to stop. That season came on the heels of the 2014 campaign when senior Nolan Moser teamed with Fuller and Shkraba for a combined 61 goals and 36 assists.
So what’s the ace that Pannell has up his sleeve for 2016?
“We’ve always been able to hang our hat on our defense,” he explained. “We’ve been really consistent over the years in defending pretty well. I don’t think this year will be any different.
“We might have to win a few more matches one to nothing and two to one, but I feel like we’ll be capable of doing that to allow our offense to find itself.”
Pannell is right on when he talks about the Indians’ defense during his coaching career. In 233 matches since Pannell became head coach the Tribe has allowed an average of 1.18 goals per contest.
You don’t have to be a math wizard or know much about soccer to figure out that those numbers will factor in to a lot of wins.
The defense begins with the keeper and senior Dylan Covington, backed up by a talented sophomore in Danny Hernandez, make the Tribe solid at that position.
“We’ll look for Dylan to not only do a great job at playing his position but also at being a leader for us,” Pannell explained. “He’s in a position where you can vocally lead and also lead by making plays that decide matches.”
The Indians boast one of the state’s best all-around players in senior Zach Hill, a bona fide Division I candidate.
Hill will be given the “green light” by Pannell this season, so look for him all over the field.
“He’s such a great defender but he can also score and distribute,” according to the coach. “You might see him controlling the midfield and defending for much of a game but when he sees opportunities to press forward, we’ll be prepared to let him take that initiative and attack the goal.”
The Dice brothers, junior Brogan and senior Brantley, will be counted on for offensive punch and junior forward Klae Wilson is another player that Pannell will be counting on to spark the offense.
The schedule will include a few more teams from Northern Kentucky this season, giving the Indians a chance to be even better prepared for the post-season.
“I think we’ll win our share of games, get better as the season goes along and be ready to compete at the end,” was how Pannell summarized the upcoming season.
Over the last five season the Indians have compiled a record of 87-24-8 while allowing the opponents to score an average of less than a goal a match.
The Indians play Aug. 16 at Lexington Lafayette.
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