Photo by Victor Tapia
Lady Panther Chele Naudin (right) returns for
the 2011 season after being named All-District
as a freshman.

Teams look to build on 2010

By David Jenkins
Staff Writer

Princeton's girls' and boys' teams made positive progress during their 2010 campaigns.

The Lady Panthers just barely missed qualifying for the Class 4A Region II playoffs, and the Panthers doubled their win total from the previous year.

Both squads expect to build on those finishes during the  2011 season.

First-year girls’ head coach Adam Phillips said, “As long as we are improving in our training and games, we will achieve our goals. A lot of the girls speak about the playoffs, but we have to place our emphasis on improvement and commitment. I’ve used the quote a few times, ‘A goal without a plan is just a dream.’ I have a plan in place, we just have to execute it. If the team plays how I envision it, everything will be fine. I have a lot of belief in the team.”  

Boys’ head coach Paul Kunkel added, “To build on last season and make our goal of going to the playoffs we need to take it one day at a time and seize every opportunity to get better. We have to focus on ourselves more than the competition. It is a long year and we know that challenges will arise, but if we stick together we should be fine.”

Below is a breakdown for the boys’ and girls’ squad.

Girls
The Lady Panthers just missed the 4A Region II playoffs last season, falling 2-1 to Paris in the District 20-4A finale.

Princeton finished fifth at 1-6-1 in district and 8-9-3 overall. The lone district victory came over Paris, 2-0 in the first round.

The Lady Panthers have a new head coach in Adam Phillips, who takes over for Roger Garner.

Last year, Phillips was the boys’ assistant coach under current head coach Paul Kunkel.

Team members are Leann Brown, Alex Webb, Larisa Chavez, Sara Nelson, Megan Fulkerson, Amber Waddell, Courtney Paiz, Rosa Hernandez, Caty Hernandez, Sara Gough, Melissa Cervantes, Anna Bermea, Dori Strickland, Taylor Puckett, Morgan Smith, Chanin Naudin, Chele Naudin, Ashley Lawson, Amy Rios, Jacie Jones, Jacklyn Beaster, Clene Huitron and Cassidy Standridge.  

Phillips feels good about the team.

He said, “I feel we have made great progress since August. I’ve seen a lot of individual and team growth. There is still a lot of room for growth. I see it like a learning curve, but we can’t allow ourselves to even out or hit plateaus, we are definitely a work in progress.”

The Lady Panthers opened the season Jan. 3 with scrimmages at home versus Fort Worth Eastern Hills and 7:15 p.m. Friday at Prosper.

Matches remaining on the predistrict slate are at Argyle (Jan. 11), Gainesville (Jan. 18) and Fort Worth Eastern Hills (Jan. 21), at home with Frisco Lone Star (Jan. 25), at Denison (Feb. 1), at home versus Wichita Falls Hirschi (Feb. 4) and Anna (Feb. 8), and on the road against Anna (Feb. 25).

They will also compete in two tournaments: Prosper (Jan. 13-15) and Kennedale (Jan. 27-29).

The Lady Panthers open the district schedule Feb. 11 at Paris North Lamar, which is followed by a home game with Sulphur Springs (Feb. 15) and Greenville (Feb. 18) and then at Paris (Feb. 22).

The second half commences March 3 home against Paris North Lamar on Senior Night. Contests remaining are at Sulphur Springs (March 5) and Greenville (March 8), and home with Paris (March 11).

For more information on the Lady Panthers, visit the website at www.aphillipssoccer.com/lp.

Photo by Victor Tapia
Panther Esteban Marquez (9) comes back for
another season in 2011.

Boys
The Panthers ended this past season with two district wins. That was double the amount of wins they had in the 2009 campaign.

That record placed them in fifth place, and Commerce was last with no victories.

Both of those victories came over Commerce, 6-1 in the first round and 3-2 in the second round.

Securing spots in the playoffs were district champion Sulphur Springs, Greenville and Paris North Lamar.

This years team will consist of  Antonio Pineda, Jayson Rogers, Pedro Diaz, Homero Flores, Able Garcia, Brandon Guerrero, Jonas Harvey, Jesus Hernandez, Said Hernandez, Victor Hernandez, Cesar Landaverde, Esteban Marquez, Josh Martin, Jerrod McCann, Juan Vazquez and Shawn Williams.

Kunkel likes the team that he will have this time around.

He said, “I feel we are more experienced this year at most positions, more athletic to being a year older and all of the hard work these kids have put in during the off-season.”

The Panthers face the same teams they did last season in 20-4A in the newly aligned 19-4A.

They’ll scrimmage Grand Prairie at Little Elm and will host Little Elm on Jan. 4. They return home 7 p.m. Friday to face Frisco Liberty.

Matches left in predistrict are home versus Quinlan Ford (Jan. 11), at Kemp (Jan. 18) and Frisco Lone Star (Jan. 25), versus Lancaster (Jan. 28), Kennedale (Feb. 1) and Frisco Heritage (Feb. 4), and at Frisco Liberty (Feb. 8).

Kunkel said, “The schedule this season is going to be a good test for us. I think the predistrict schedule is going to get us ready for the rigors of district play. We just need to stay the course and everything will work out.”

The Panthers kick off the district season Feb. 11 at Commerce, which is followed by a home  game with Paris North Lamar (Feb. 15). They are then at Sulphur Springs (Feb. 18) and Greenville (Feb. 21) and home versus Paris (Feb. 25).

They open the second portion of the schedule at home versus Commerce (March 4). That is followed by a game at Paris North Lamar (March 7), at home with Sulphur Springs (March 12) and Greenville (March 15) and then at Paris (March 18).