Wildcat girls soccer earns seven all-league, all-state honors

By Andy Brown
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Updated: June 9, 2023

Louisburg had seven players named to the All-Frontier League and all-state teams this past week.

The Louisburg girls soccer team was one of the top programs in the Frontier League and it showed when the all-league selections were announced.

The Wildcats were honored with seven spots on the All-Frontier League team, including three first team selections in Rowan Yows, Lexi Hampton and Adyson Ross. Bree Gassman and Hailey Sword earned second team honors, while Lola Edwards and Macy Lemke were named honorable mention.

“We did quite well,” Louisburg coach Ben York said. “Postseason honors are always subjective. As a head coach, you are always thinking your nominations are what other people are thinking, but a lot of times it is not. There were girls who really showed well this year. The girls that made it were absolutely deserving, and in a really tough league like we were in, it is quite an honor.”

All-State awards were also released earlier this week by the Kansas High School Soccer Coaches Association and seven Wildcats received honors. Yows, Hampton and Ross were second team selections, while Gassman, Sword, Lemke and Ellery Allen were named honorable mention.

The Wildcats received those honors thanks to the season they had. They reached the sub-state championship game and ended the year with a 13-5 record.

Yow sled the Wildcats in scoring from her midfield spot and played a key role on the team as a sophomore. She finished with 19 goals and 11 assists. She also had 50 shots on goal.

“Rowan is the heartbeat of our team,” York said. “She sets the tone with her tenacious high motor and she is near the top in every category on our team. She is a very hard worker, never complains and leads by example. She scored some very impressive goals this year and she is technically good on the ball.”

Hampton tied with Yows for the team lead in scoring as she also tallied 19 goals on the season from her forward spot. The Louisburg junior also had seven assists and 51 shots on goal.

“Lexi is great at finding shots in tight spaces, but also has a good top gear to beat defenders,” York said. “She is equally good with both feet and has the ability to stretch the defense out. She is also very good in the air scoring several goals off crosses/corners with her head. With our different style of play this year, she did a good job adjusting to a more pass heavy offense that shares the ball.”

Ross was a big factor in the scoring from her outside midfielder spot. The Louisburg senior led the team with 21 assists to go along with 16 goals. She also had 35 shots on goal.

“Adyson moved to outside mid this year in the system we played,” York said. “Not only did she lead the team in assists, she had critical goals in many of our close games and really led the team on the field. She showed great leadership and played almost every minute of every game. She is probably the most dangerous player we have because she is left footed and a nightmare to keep up with for pace.”

Gassman, a senior, also had a big season for the Wildcats at forward. She tallied seven goals and nine assists to go along with 16 shots on goal.

“Bree does all the dirty work on the field for us,” York said. “Her fitness is incredible and she has allowed us to use her in different positions throughout the season when other players were injured or we were thin at certain positions. She is very good on the ball and rarely gives up possession. Best tackler on the team and is extremely unselfish. Her stats do not do justice to her importance on the team. She is also a great captain and leader.”

Sword, a junior, was one the team’s top defenders after switching positions from a year ago. The defense as a whole gave up just 17 goals all season, which was less than one per game.

“Hailey moved from the defensive midfield to center back this year and she handled the switch extremely well,” York said “She was the field general for us this year. She was part of a defense that allowed less that a goal a game and had 9 shutouts in the regular season. She is very good at reading the play and organizing the team defensively. Strong in tackles and is fast enough to track down players from behind.”

As a part of that defense, Lemke had a strong first year as a starting goalie. She finished the year with 56 saves to go along with nine clean sheets.

“Macy had a very impressive year,” York said. “She plays very well with her feet, which allows us to use her to keep possession and build out of the back. She is confident and decisive when she comes out and is intimidating. She is good on corners and has good height, so she rarely has trouble with balls in the air or high shots. She is a good vocal leader and good organizer on the field and off.”

Edwards, a junior caption, also played a vital role in the midfield this season for Louisburg. She finished the year with seven goals and seven assists, which was good enough to earn honorable mention all-league honors.

“Lola is the most technical player we have,” York said. “Very good at finding and keeping possession. Didn’t have a statistically impressive season, but was probably involved in the majority of our build ups to goal scoring opportunities. Also a very good and consistent captain and leader.”

Allen was also a key part to the Wildcat defense, but also found herself in plenty of scoring opportunities. The Louisburg junior stopper finished with nine goals, seven assists and 20 shots on goal.

“Ellery was a transfer into our program this year,” York said. “She played stopper for us and had an immediate impact on our team. Very talented on the ball, good distributer and good in the air. Tall and imposing as a defender, and she also pushes up into the offense very well. As a defender, she had a large number of goals for us. She takes all of our set pieces and has an incredible shot.”