By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson CC Sports Information Director

Normally, the Hutchinson Community College women's soccer team is the first program to open its season's schedule in a given athletic season and is usually the first to complete its season.

Normally …

The only head coach in Blue Dragon women's soccer history, for Sammy Lane, prepping for the 2020-21 season has been anything but normal.

At the top of the list was the moving of his usual fall season to the spring this academic year because of the Coronavirus pandemic. With the move, the Blue Dragon soccer team will be the last of the 10 Hutchinson intercollegiate athletic programs affected by the pandemic to start a season, doing so on Friday at Johnson County. The Blue Dragons will then cram a 14-game schedule into about a six-week season.

"It's been crazy," said Lane, who begins his 16th season at Hutchinson. Lane's overall record is 218-53-5.

"Even last summer we thought we were going to play in the fall and the NJCAA then decided to push everything back to spring. That added six months to our season. But there have been some good things about waiting. It allowed just to get our internationals in at Christmas and it allowed us to move along at a steady pace as opposed to getting everybody fit and playing together in just 2 1/2 weeks."

The Blue Dragons were 12-4 in 2019 and finished second in the Jayhawk West with a 7-3 record. The Dragons lost 3-2 to Butler in the Region VI Tournament.

Four key players return from that team and bring 53 percent of the goals scored and 45 percent of the assists to the 2020-21 Blue Dragons.

But there is more to the story of returning sophomores Marah Franke, Samantha Vaughn, Cheyenne Busker and Esther Karhayu that could pay huge dividends this season for Lane and the Blue Dragons.

All four players had opportunities to move on at the semester break to four-year programs with three years of eligibility remaining. All four chose to stay with the Blue Dragons.

"That says an awful lot about the kids themselves," Lane said. "They could have transferred out at Christmas. The fact they all decided to stay after the season got pushed back says a lot about the kids and their parents. They wanted to play together one more time.

"Sam and Marah have known each other all their lives and the Franke family basically adopted Esther during the pandemic and during her mom's passing. They are a really close bunch of sophomores and really good leaders. Hopefully we will have a lot of success for them as a reward for their commitment and dedication to Hutch soccer."

Vaughn was the leading scorer for the Blue Dragons in 2019 with 15 goals and 12 assists (42 points). Karhayu finished with 13 goals and one assists (27 points). Franke was as absolute wizard on set pieces and racked up 13 assists and six goals (25 points) last season. Busker was the best defender for the Dragons last season and turned in the second-best offensive season by a defender in team history – second only to Finola Corley – with six goals and four assists (16 points).

Lane will mix in 15 freshmen with the four returning sophomores and he likes his depth at all three positions levels on the field.

"That's a mountain of freshmen, even for a junior college team," Lane said. "I really don't know who I will start against Johnson County. We have plenty of players to choose from up front, plenty to choose from in the back and to choose from in the midfield.

"With the schedule the way it is, I'm glad we have that kind of depth because this season could be a war of attrition."

The Blue Dragons will have a daunting start to the season with four of the league's top teams in the first five games, which will be played in a span of 12 days. After Johnson County on Friday in Overland Park, the Blue Dragons travel to Barton for a noon game on Monday before playing the home opener on Wednesday, April 7 against Garden City at the Salthawk Sports Complex. Then KJCCC power Butler comes to the Salthawk Sports Complex on April 10 and the Dragons travel to No. 11 Cowley on April 14.

"Straight away you could argue that we play the four best teams in the league in the first five games," Lane said. "We will find out how good we are pretty early in the season."