It’s been a long 18 months since Allen Community College’s soccer team has seen the pitch for a real game.
Normally, the Red Devil soccer season is over before Thanksgiving.
However, one of the offshoots of the COVID-19 pandemic that put the sports world on its ear also forced schools to push back some sports.
That meant delaying the soccer season for Allen’s squads from fall to spring.
“We’re the last ones to start,” Allen head coach Doug Desmarteau said. “The guys are excited. They’re champing at the bit, ready to play against some real competition.”
Allen has plenty of reason for high hopes this spring, with seven regulars returning, including leading scorer Jordan Mase, who delivered 13 goals in 11 games way back in the fall of 2019.
‘We return nearly our whole back line and our goalkeeper,” Desmarteau said. “Our roster is pretty sophomore-heavy.”
The biggest change for ACC soccer in 2021 is the team’s move from the Division I tier to Division II in the Jayhawk Conference, joining Hesston and Pratt. Allen is among the schools that do not offer “full ride” scholarships, which creates an uneven playing field when recruiting against schools that do.
“Division II suits our philosophy better,” Desmarteau said. “Our deck’s a little bit smaller than some of these other schools.”
But in Division II, Desmarteau has high hopes for an extended postseason run in 2021.
“We should be competing to win a regional title and maybe dip our toes in the national tournament,” he said.
That said, there are myriad challenges, most of which stem from the pandemic.
In a normal year, soccer players would have decided by now their playing future, be it returning to Allen, or moving on to a four-year school.
“They’ve usually had their campus visits in November and Deccember and made their decisions by January,” Desmarteau said.
The later season has trumped those plans, with many universities in the same boat.
And then there’s the waiver offered to college athletes this season to stay put and not lose a year of eligibility.
