STARKVILLE — For every explosive run from midfield, there has to be someone to cover the empty spaces.
One lane left open or one man left unmarked could turn into a defensive nightmare and a goal for the opposition. To play fluid, attacking soccer, a team must have a strong midfield.
For Starkville High”s boys” soccer team, the lynchpin of its midfield diamond is junior Daniel Fumo.
The central midfielder has the unenviable task of managing the last line of defense whenever teammates Alvaro Pichardo and Price Day push forward. Sometimes it”s Pichardo who sees an opening and takes off. Sometimes its both Pichardo and Day pressing the offense.
Each time, it”s Fumo who has the responsibility for providing box-to-box coverage and helping keep the team”s midfield shape intact.
“That”s why we do it, make runs and pressure like that,” Pichardo says. “[Fumo] cleans everything up for us.”
Starkville”s goal-happy team enters tonight”s road match against New Hope with a 5-0-1 record and little in the way of a challenge up to this point. Clinton held Starkville to a draw, but the Jackets have run riot in front of goal through its two most polished finishers, Day and Pichardo. Each has five goals from midfield and provided valuable offense for a team breaking in sophomore strikers Mike Klaskala and Taylor Wise.
“We had to get used to the strikers, trying to figure out if they like to run or if they like to check more,” Fumo said. “We”ve got a little more work to do on that.”
Starkville”s quality in its midfield trio is the unquestioned strength of the team, though J.R. Tomlinson”s role in center defense and goalkeeper Addison Watson”s experience allow the Jackets to play wide open.
Second-year co-captain Day spent much of last season paired with Tomlinson along the Jackets back line. His versatility and lock-down defense earned him Commercial Dispatch Player of the Year.
Pichardo is a member of the Region 3 ”93 Olympic Development team, which draws from a pool of 11 states.
His quality has earned him the right to play as freely as he wants, head coach Brian Bennett said.
“Plans were probably to play Alvaro up top because he can be a dangerous goal scorer, but he can still do that from midfield,” Bennett said. “Being a scorer, Alvaro is going to float whenever you tell him to or not. But it”s funny, it”s probably Price pushing forward more than Alvaro. Both of those guys are smart about when they do it, too.”
How much has Pichardo improved from last season?
“He passes a little bit now,” Fumo joked.
The attention Pichardo and Day draw from opponents” defenses has opened up opportunities for the team”s other players, especially Dylan Howard, who has four goals on the season.
Everyone, except for Fumo, who has just one goal so far.
“An assist is pretty much the same as a goal to me,” Fumo said. “It doesn”t bother me.”
Goals aside, Bennett feels fortunate to have seen his midfield take shape following the departure of starters Parker Hoyt and Kase Kingery. The former moved away from Starkville while the latter left the team. Both losses altered Bennett”s initial plans for formation and lineup choices. His decision to move Pichardo and Day to midfield has paid of brilliantly.
“Parker was our fort and he held it down,” Bennett said. “We could always count on him running back. Having Price up really has helped replace that.”
Starkville is motivated by its goal to escape the first round of the playoffs, where they”ve exited in each of the last five seasons. Jackson-area schools have been the Yellow Jackets” hurdle in the playoffs, but they feel they have the talent to wrestle the district title away from Tupelo and make a deep playoff run.
“And it seems like we always get beat by like four goals,” Pichardo said. “I haven”t been past the first round in the five years I”ve played. Believe me, we talk about ending that streak.”
According to Bennett, his biggest challenge is keeping the team focused on tactics, especially when facing inferior teams.
“Everyone knows the talent we have,” Bennett said. “They”re a little bit more focused game-to-game, but they”re so good that focus gets off a little bit. It”s been kind of easy for them so far. If we have the focus for every game like we had against Clinton we”ll a tremendously good team.”
After tonight”s match at New Hope, the Jackets host Amory at 1 p.m. Saturday.
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