Cape Central soccer reflects on impressive 2024

Cape Central’s Averie Huff plays the ball during a home game this season.

Clay Herrell ~ cherrell@semoball.com

It was a fantastic year for local soccer teams this spring.

Among the teams that had an impressive year was the Cape Central Tigers.

The Tigers entered the season coming off a 6-10 campaign in 2023, but in 2024 they were poised to improve.

And improve they did, the Tigers finished 2nd in the Class 3 District 1 tournament and finished with a record of 13-6.

“I think the numbers that we had in terms of how many girls came out definitely gave us an opportunity to win four or five more games,” Tigers coach Duncan McKinley said. “I don’t believe that our expectation was getting to a district final. We knew we had something special with the girls we had but just going .500 on the season was what my staff and I were shooting for.”

Early on the Tigers were 2-3, but a stretch of 8 wins in 9 games proved just how different the Cape Central club was in 2024.

“I think as the games went on we started to realize that we had something,” McKinley said.

Perhaps the biggest indicator that the year would be different for the Tigers came in the first game of the year as they dominated St. Vincent 5-1, the same Indians team that beat them 5-1 a season ago and then 8-0 in districts the same year.

“I know they had some girls out and they graduated a bunch of girls from the year before,” McKinley said. “But, it was definitely a morale boost and it propelled us forward. I believe it gave us hope over that next week or two and we built off that win.”

While the Tigers had tremendous success this season, continuing that success will be difficult as they graduate nine seniors.

“It going to be difficult,” McKinley said. “It’s something that we’ve been preparing for the last couple years. We have a pretty big junior class who have played with seniors since their freshman year. It’s going to be impossible to replace some of those girls but we have to be sure we’re confident in what we can do with what we have and really lean on that bigger senior class to carry the team.”

McKinley said his favorite memory from the 2024 season was the 2-1 overtime win over St. Vincent in the Class 3 District 1 semifinals.

“That feeling is something that doesn’t come around very often,” McKinley said. “It’s a memory that you will always hold close to your heart. A lot of hard work culminated in that moment.”