By Mark Carpenter
People’s Defender
It has been a season to remember for Coach Tom Wuest and his West Union Dragons boys soccer team.. With a 3-2 win at Piketon on October 12, the Dragons set a school record for wins in a season with Piketon being their seventh victim, eclipsing the record of six wins set by the 2015 Dragons. The Dragons finished 2-5 in Southern Hills Athletic Conference play.
On an individual note, senior Arbutus Wuest shattered the season scoring record as he totaled 32 goals in 2023 and also broke the career scoring record with 5o career goals, breaking the records of 22 and 44 by 2012 graduate Bryce Kramer.
Coach Wuest spoke to the Defender about what has made the difference in this year’s team.
“We began to get organized in the spring, putting together a full roster and starting open fields in May,” said the WUHS head coach. “These open fields continued throughout the summer (in accordance with OHSAA guidelines) so that we were much further along than in past years. We have six seniors on the roster, five of them returning players. Two of those seniors, captains Arbutus Wuest and Ben Rothwell, did a great job of encouraging the team to play more cohesively. In the games when we played together as a unit, we had our greatest success.”
“Two senior players contributed greatly to our success on the pitch, Arbutus’ understanding of the game and his capacity to play any position as needed, along with his league-leading 32 goals this season, paired with the relentless energy, drive, and passion of striker Trey Bracken. The team carried a positive and sporting attitude both on and off the field, expressed in our new team motto, ‘One heart, one team.’ We had a few yellow cards this season, but no reds.”
With their historic regular season behind them, the Dragons are the #13 seed in the Division III sectional and were slated to open the postseason action on Tuesday, October 17, hosting Wellston. That score was not available at press time but if the Dragons pulled off the win, they would advance to the sectional finals on October 19 with a trip to #4 seeded South Point.