Spartan girls excited to defend their state soccer title

BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

What do you do when you've already got the hardware back in the high school's trophy case?

And guesswork is all it is when the Journal Star tabbed both the East girls and boys soccer teams as  this year's preseason No. 1s in Class A.

"Couldn't have just stuck us at fifth, huh?" East boys coach Jeff Hoham joked when he heard the news.

Hoham knows being picked No. 1 means a whole lot of nothing at this point.

He knows just being the No. 1 team in the city is tough enough.

"Take (Lincoln) Southeast, (Lincoln) Southwest and us," Hoham said. "There's not a lot of difference. I think those are three teams that can beat anybody in the state if they give their maximum effort."

It was Southeast, after all, that ended East's season last year in the state semifinals. The Knights won that game by a goal.

"There really isn't any motivation for this season from that game, because we didn't feel like we did anything wrong that night," Hoham said. "It just came down to one great play they made."

The Spartans return 12 letterwinners from the team that went 15-2, including Super-Staters Mike Johnson and Don Freeman, and a very good midfielder in Pat Dingledine.

One player they'll greatly miss is Brady Beran, who suffered a serious head injury during the football season.

Beran was a standout goaltender for the Spartans last season.

Without Beran, Hoham is turning to sophomore Anthony Reichwaldt and senior Ethan Hamilton.

If one of those two find the same success that East girls goaltender Kara Linder has enjoyed, then Hoham's team will likely rarely falter.

Linder had 13 shutouts on her way to earning second-team Super- State honors as a sophomore last year.

This is why it's best to be No. 1 in May, when the conjecture is gone and no one's left to aim for you.

Omaha World Herald-Stu Pospisil March 21, 2005

Lincoln East is favored to sweep the Class A girls and boys titles, with both teams starting out at No. 1 in the Top 10s. Morgan and his boys counterpart at East, Jeff Hoham, arenπt sure their squads warrant the bullπs-eyes at this point.

≥Burke is a big-time sleeper. A lot of young talent.≤ Hoham said. ≥And I donπt know how anybody can discount (Lincoln) Southeast. It has arguably the best keeper in the state in John Bradford, and it had Nick Powers and Blake Neben in the midfield. Thereπs three game-breakers with talent, and Linda Wilson is an outstanding coach.

≥Millard North is the most balanced team coming back and factor in that (Creighton) Prep will come back strong as the season goes on, and we could face them in districts for the fourth straight year.≤

≥Morgan points to the perennial favorites in Class A girls ≠ Millard North, Millard South, Burke, Omaha Westside, Omaha Marian. ≥Weπre just happy to be up with those guys,≤ he said. ≥Theyπre all well-coached, plenty of talent. I canπt say enough good stuff about them.≤

Hohamπs boys team at Lincoln East returns 12 letterman, including Gatorade player of the year Mike Johnson at forward and Don Freeman at defense. But the Spartans must overcome the loss of Brady Beran, their starting keeper as a sophomore who remains in physical therapy after suffering a serious head injury while playing football for East last fall.