The Aplington-Parkersburg girls and AP/DNH boys soccer teams will begin their seasons with a non-conference doubleheader at Clear Lake Tuesday.
Coming off a 14-5 season that featured a substate final appearance, AP/DNH has an opportunity to continue building as a program. They’ll replace five of last year’s starters, but four of the top five goal scoring leaders are back. Ty Luhring scored 18 goals and Jackson Mulder added 11, among the returning players. Head Coach Perry Bernard says the team is confident heading into the opener.
“I always tell the boys, never underestimate any team we go up against,” Bernard says. “You just don’t know what they might have acquired in the off season, because we’ve got a foreign exchange student with us too. So they might have gotten some foreign exchange students that are very good. I know they did lose at least a couple of their stronger seniors that did make a difference for them. So our boys are confident going into this game. I just tell them, don’t be overconfident. Make sure you play your game and play the game we can play. Playing on turf up there, so that’s nice. We don’t have to worry about weather conditions so much up there.”
AP/DNH won 7-1 when the teams met last season.
The Falcon girls are coming off an 8-9 season, which was their best record in five years. Kiara Morris is back for her sophomore season after leading the team with 12 goals scored last year. Emma Haan is back for another season, and has the top save percentage among returning goalkeepers at 88.3, the second-best in Iowa last year behind only Dike-New Hartford’s Miranda Tyler.
The girls game will start at 5:00 p.m., which will be followed by the boys game.
