It’s been almost 10 months since the controversial game played on Shawnee Mission South’s soccer field has took place; the game where Coach Travis Gatewood and key players junior David Leichty, 2011 graduates Asher Herbet and Doug Brown received punishments that still impact the team a year later. The punishment, enforced by the Shawnee Mission School District, stated that Gatewood and Leichty were not allowed to participate in the first soccer game against state champions Blue Valley West.

“It was just a tough game. We played the best team we played all season,” Gatewood said. “They had played a four overtime game the night before and we just lost our composure at the end of the game.”

Many players and fans were surprised to find that teammates had acted the way they did. All sports represent the school they play for and soccer is no exception.

“I was kinda shocked because I think the way we played and the way we acted on the field shows a lot about who you are, so to see our team blow up like that was pretty shocking,” junior Adam Alfaro said. “I don’t think you should be able to have outbursts like that in the game because it’s all about good sportsmanship.”

Even without Leichty and Gatewood at the first game, the team still had a positive outlook. The team took many steps to get back to their past success, including better practices, higher standards, and improved sportsmanship.

“We’ve always had high standards in the program. We’ve produced a lot of division one and two players and we’ll just keep setting standards, whether it’s behavior in the classroom standards, fitness standards, or sportsmanship standards we’ll keep pushing those,” Gatewood said.

During the first game without Leichty and Coach Gatewood the team lost 3-0 Blue Valley West, with many goals taken back by the referees. Since last year the coaches and staff have been emphasizing the importance of being respectful, sportsman-like, and representing the team and each other in a respectful matter.

“The coaches and faculty have been a lot more on top of us being respectful to teammates, coaches, other teams, officials, whoever it is. They’ve made sure that we have been on top of our respect levels being high,” Leichty said.

It will be a developmental year for the Raiders with only two returning varsity players. With a 2-1 record under their belt, they’re off to a successful start, but there are high expectations for the season.

“I think we’ll do good [sic]. Just work hard at practice. We got a lot of new players and a lot of them worked together last year so I think we’ll do pretty good,” sophomore Parker Ling said. “We just need to have some leaders. We have some other seniors on the team and a couple other returning varsity players. They just need to step up and take control.”

Outside expectations for the team from fans and other schools have fallen due to the suspension and the fact that so many new players are joining the varsity team. Contrary to what others think, Leichty believes differently

“I think the team’s gonna do surprisingly better than a lot of people think. I have a feeling that they’re gonna think 13 seniors graduating is just gonna be killer, but I think that a lot of people are gonna step up in the roles and I think we’ll have a pretty good winning team. So I’m excited for the year we have ahead of us,” Leichty said.

Since their previous 14-2 record the team will be getting the best from each opponent they face. The team tries to play as if each jersey was painted with a bulls-eye, especially when facing Blue Valley West, Shawnee Mission West and, Shawnee Mission East. With all the controversy last season brought, Gatewood plans on getting the team back on track for another Sunflower League Championship.

“For a lot of guys it’s their first varsity experience; it’s gonna take some time to catch up to the speed of play and the demand of the varsity game,” Gatewood said.  “I think we have the caliber of people to do it, it’s just gonna be a work in progress.”

By Trivette Knowles