Springfield MO Soccer

I had the great pleasure of catching up with Afton Weimer, Kickapoo 2006 and Springfield SC alumni, while she was in Springfield for a few days last week. I was interested in hearing about her experience walking-on at Southern Methodist University this past semester in her quest to continue playing soccer at the highest levels. It was a successful effort, something that new assistant coach Kyle was quick to point out to me when I met him at the Region 2 tournament in late June.

Afton’s efforts began last Fall when she began school. The coach essentially indicated that the opportunity to “walk-on” occurs during the Spring season. Afton took a student trainer position during the Fall semester in the Athletic department and concentrated on her studies. She also began running, a task that was eased by the fact that she enjoys long distance running. As the Winter break approached, she began more soccer specific training. That was important because as we’ve learned, soccer is a full-time position when played at the Division One level and spring practice began at the same time the semester did.

That’s when Afton discovered how big a challenge she faced. The SMU Women’s team uses the same Fitness Test as the US Men’s National team and the work necessary to play at this level would be significant. It’s a test only one player on the team would conquer, the starting right back where Afton hopes to get the majority of her playing time. And when push comes to shove, there are three primary categories that Division One coaches look at. Height, speed and technical skills. Afton won’t win any height battles and she will need to work regularly on enhancing her speed and technical skills but there is another factor in her favor. Any player that reaches this level of play has a significant competitive streak but the intangibles associated with a players work rate and willingness to be coached are not easily modified by the time they reach this level. Afton stood out among her teammates in this area and it was the deciding factor in the Coaching staffs decision to offer her a roster spot. With her academic scholarships, it was a much easier decision when evaluating her ability to grow and handle the rigors of playing the sport at this level.

I get very excited whenever I think about what Afton has achieved and I look forward to tracking her success at this level. It’s a wonderful story because it points to individual effort and heart. Afton’s first significant competitive club team coaching and play did not occur until her sophomore year when she joined the Springfield SC team coached by Jeremy Alumbaugh. That track, playing on a competitive team and in front of college coaches at showcase tournaments, is only now beginning to develop in this region for the girls. Erin Hainey at CMSU, Katie Brooks at William Jewell, Heidi Bushman in Hawaii, Karissa Nedoma at Drury, the Sabel twins at SBU. There are women succeeding at the Division II and Division III level but outside of Maddie Senkosky as Mizzou, it will be a trio of players from Kickapoo that will determine if Springfield is developing Division I talent (Lavoy at Purdue, Weimer at SMU, Russell at Rice).

SMU women’s soccer team is coming off a 17-5-1 season and has won seven straight regular-season conference titles. The Mustangs tied for 24th in the final SoccerTimes.com poll and received an at-large bid into the 2006 NCAA Tournament, marking their sixth-straight NCAA Tourney appearance.

SMU is part of Conference USA which means that Afton will regularly compete against former high school teammate Chealsey Russell who has committed to the Rice Owls. It was 5-1 to SMU when the teams met last Fall. I’ll have more on Chealsey and the Rice Owls this week.

Afton will also see plenty of Tyler Williams, Kickapoo 2007 and a Mustang signee as well.

One advantage that Afton had in walking on at SMU is that there was a coaching change in January. Brent Erwin was hired to coach the Women’s team in late January, after two years as head coach at the University of Central Florida and before that, the top assistant to Schellas Hyndman for the SMU men’s team. It’s unusual for a coach to move from men’s to women’s at this stage in their career (although we saw Alf Bilbao add that responsibility at Drury) but his knowledge of the program and commitment to moving the women’s program into the Top 25 nationally helped make the move happen. It also offered Afton the opportunity to work with a coach with no preconceived notions about his players other then what he might find on paper.

Afton has one teammate from Missouri - Kim Peabody is a 2006 Ursuline Academy graduate, winner of three state cups with St Louis SC and an All-State performer.

Southern Methodist will be playing at St Louis University on Friday September 7th at 7:00 pm. That’s the closest they’ll get to Springfield this season, although if there is a tournament in Memphis the weekend of October 20-21 you will have another chance to catch the Lady Mustangs in action.