Girls soccer: 5 questions heading into the 2024 season

Last year, two schools claimed girls soccer regional titles.

However, Indian Creek won’t have a team this year, leaving Kaneland as the only returning regional champion.

Here are five questions heading into the soccer season, with games set to begin next week.

How high is the ceiling for Emily Kunzer?

The Kaneland midfielder shared MVP honors in the Interstate 8 with teammate Brigid Gannon. Gannon graduated, but Kunzer is back for her senior season after 18 goals and 12 assists. She’s won or shared the conference’s top honor in each of the past three years.

With Gannon and her 30 goals from last season gone, the Knights are counting on Kunzer to handle more of the scoring load.

How far can Kaneland go this season?

The Knights won a regional title last season, their first since 2016. They lost 2-0 in a sectional semifinal to Benet, which ended up taking second in the state in Class 2A.

The Knights lose Gannon and senior defender Madie Nitsche, but do bring back Kuzner. Jade Schrader had a solid junior season last year with 12 goals and 10 assists. A natural forward, she’s a candidate, along with Kuzner, to pick up some of Gannon’s scoring slack.

In all, eight starters are back from last season and 12 players total from a team that went 10-0 in the Interstate 8 and won the conference tournament. They last won a sectional in 2015.

When will the IC program return?

The Timberwolves had the most successful season in program history last year by a wide margin, finishing 17-2-1, five wins more than the previous high in school history.

But the team was all seniors, and this year the program, top to bottom, had eight players.

So there’s no soccer at Indian Creek this year as the program waits to see if the numbers can climb back up. This winter, the program did not field a varsity basketball team, but did compete at the lower levels as most players out for the team were freshmen.

Can DeKalb continue its late-season momentum?

Last season for the Barbs featured a pair of big accomplishments. They won their first regional semifinal since 2017, although they lost to Huntley in the final.

DeKalb also knocked off rival Sycamore, 1-0, to claim the rivalry win. The Barbs finished the season 6-12-1.

Last season it was a senior-heavy team, as a lot of the top talent has graduated, including leading scorer Lindsey Bargiel, top defender Madison McNeil and Daily Chronicle All-Area second-team midfielders Ashley Diedrich and Claire Bettner.

But freshman goalie Beth Meeks had a standout season, and Carla Murrieta was strong in the middle third for the Barbs.

Kaylyn Smith takes over as coach for the Barbs.

Will Sycamore have a bounce-back season?

Since going 20-1-1 and winning a regional title in 2019, the Spartans are 30-29-2 and still looking for their first playoff win since then.

The Spartans struggled to score last season at certain points. Not only did the Barbs shut them out, they didn’t score in two games against Kaneland and lost 1-0 in a Class 2A Sycamore Regional semifinal to Prairie Ridge.

Taylor Brannstrom did a great job in goal for the Spartans with eight shutouts and a 1.71 goals-against average, and she returns for her senior year. Freshmen Cortni Kruizenga and Grace Amptmann had strong seasons as well for Sycamore. There’s a lot of experience on this team, and it could have them trending up as the season goes on.