When Northwest soccer coach Davis Willis looks at this year’s roster, the first thing that stands out to him is the amount of depth the Lions have.
And not just at the varsity level.
“If we get hit with injuries, we do have quite a few players on JV that certainly won’t hurt us if we need to call them up,” said Willis, who begins his 18th season and has a record of 239-198. “Last year was a bit of a rebuild. We were extremely young and had injuries to our top two attackers. While last year seemed like a struggle at times, it gave a lot of young guys the opportunity to play big minutes against good teams.”
The sixth seed in Class 4 District 1 in 2024, the Lions season ended with a 10-16 record after a 5-0 shutout against Mehlville (No. 3, 18-7-1), which lost in the district final. After a streak from 2018-2022 with a winning record, Northwest was 13-13 in 2023. The Lions were winless (0-7) against Suburban Conference Red pool opponents last year.
Not surprisingly, the Lions fortunes haven’t been as good because they lacked a premier goal scorer like they possessed when they built a record of 86-43 in a five-year period. Hayden Hatley, Joe Noah, Brandon O’Dell, Tyler Finder, Stephen Pryk were all 20-plus goal scorers in the last eight years. Noah scored 35 goals in 2018. A senior this year, forward Bailey Smith led Northwest with 10 goals and got hot at the end of the regular season with half of those. The Lions were 7-0 in games Smith scored a goal. He was a second team Red pool selection.
“When Bailey scores, we win,” Willis said.
There were times last year when Northwest had seven players who were sophomores or younger on the field at the same time. A lack of scoring punch was a major reason the Lions lost nine games by one goal or in OT/PKs.
“All those guys are back, and they look a lot more like varsity soccer players than they did a season ago,” Willis said. “There has been a lot of maturing and growth from all of them. As far as style of play goes, I think we can be pretty versatile.”
Willis said ending up with a winning record again could be as a result of the team’s defensive quality, and the offense will be much improved.
“This offseason our biggest strength was on the defensive side of the ball. We played five friendly matches against Eureka, Rockwood Summit, Ladue (Class 3 State Champs), Seckman, and Hillsboro. The only team to score against us was Eureka.
“We will score more goals this year. I also think we will surrender less. Our level of toughness will be exponentially higher. That’s a pretty good formula for us to get back to where we usually are.”
Junior forwards Sam Graham and Parker Durham are both extremely talented and play high level club ball in the off season. Durham is recovering from a broken thumb, but Willis said he and Graham have the potential to be first team Red.
Senior Bryten Moleski and junior Mavrick Pieper will see time in the attack. Moleski is a three-year varsity player, who also plays hockey. Willis said the hockey side brings a certain level of toughness to the group coming off the bench. Pieper showed this summer he has the ability to create chances for himself or others, and will provide depth at forward and midfield.
Willis said the midfield – freshman Tony Lato, sophomores Logan Mayer and Braden Didway, junior Cooper Brown and seniors Milo Jenicek and Louis O’Malley – is so deep, he could have different starters there for each game.
“This is where things get really interesting for this team,” Willis said. “The amount of talent and depth in this position is unheard of for a Northwest team. It wouldn’t surprise me if any of these guys ends up starting and playing big minutes. The competition for playing time is always good. They will all push each other and hopefully the depth will help us weather injuries should they arise.”
For years Willis said he knew Tony Lato would be the face of the program at some point, the only question was when.
“If his play this summer is any indication it will be sooner rather than later,” Willis said. “It was a consensus among my staff that he was our top offensive performer this offseason. He is a high IQ player and everything he does is quality.”
Brown was a late-season callup, and a big reason why Willis said the Lions finished their last 10 games with a 6-4 record.
“Cooper is not a flashy player and most of the things he does will not show up in the stat sheet, but he brought a toughness to our midfield that we were desperate for last year. He owned the air, he plays simple, and he is as coachable a player as there is.”
Jenicek has a great motor and makes great runs past his teammates at forward. He scored the game-winning goals in the last 30 seconds against Republic and against Fox late in the game.
This is O’Malley’s fourth year on the varsity, and he could also play on the backline. He is recovering from a hamstring injury, leaving his playing status uncertain.
Seniors Nathan Finder and Jack Lato and juniors Andrew Johnson and Michael Simmons lead Willis to believe they’re his best set of defenders in the past decade. The Latos are brothers. This is the third year Finder, Jack and Johnson have been together in the backfield. Simmons suffered a season-ending knee injury in the 2024 season opener against Hillsboro.
The Rupp brothers will again handle the goaltending duties this year. Senior Payton Rupp begins his fourth year on the varsity. The first two were spent backing up all-state goalkeeper Alex Drexler. Last year, Payton played in 2,010 minutes and posted a 1.67 goals-against average. Emerson played in 35 minutes and allowed one goal.
“Payton is in as good of shape as I have seen him,” Willis said. “It’s going to take a very well placed shot to beat him. In my opinion, Payton was one of the best keepers in the conference last year, but our win/loss record did not help him come voting time.
“Because of our ability to defend and our rock solid goalkeeper, we are going to be able to throw more bodies further up the pitch when we have the ball. When we lose the ball, our focus will be to get immediate pressure on the ball and win it back and hopefully that leads to some quality transition chances. I think we are going to be able to be a pretty relentless high-pressing team because we will definitely be in shape and I have quality players to sub in if pace or effort start to decline.”
Northwest begins the season at Hillsboro on Aug. 29. In last year’s opener against the Hawks, O’Malley scored two goals in a 6-0 shutout. Willis said the Lions play the toughest schedule in the county by quite a bit.
“We don’t have many nights where we can relax at all. That being said, I don’t think there is a game on the schedule where we don’t have at least a puncher’s chance. I could make a schedule where we win 20 games a year, but I want to push these guys with good games every night. Consistency is going to be key for this team.”