Walking off of Hoffman Estates High School soccer field on a chilly November night, the Edwardsville Tigers soccer team reached the goal of every high school soccer team in the country: winning state.

Although defending state champions, the Tigers will have a very different look in 2014. “We are not the same team we were last year so we can’t play like we did last year,” senior Liam Burke said. Brent Heinlein and Josh Kowalis will both play soccer for the University of Illinois-Springfield this season. Bailey Winfield, Josh Lowry and Michael Roman will continue their soccer career at Lewis and Clark Community College. Brenden Heaton, Hayden Hessler and Connor Wright hung up the cleats, but were still key factors in the state team. Losing these player’s, is losing great leadership, and veteran experience.

The biggest blow to the Tigers will be on defense. “If we can play anything like we did last year on defense, we will have a great shot of winning (state) again,” said senior Landon Paul. Not only did Winfield and Kowalis graduate, but junior Austin Toby is playing for the St. Louis Scott Gallagher academy team and not for the Tigers this fall. The team’s work will be cut out for them trying to replace those three. “Kowalis is one of the strongest defenders we have ever had in the program and Bailey (Winfield) was a fantastic organizer,” varsity coach Mark Heiderscheid said.

Who will fill the role of the back line of defenders? Senior Liam Burke will move from right back to center back on the defense, and junior Max Kieffer, a key sub on last year’s team, will move into the center back position as well. Freshman Zack Timmerman, will also see minutes as an outside back.

However, the next spot has not been determined. “We have as many as eight players that might be defenders,” Mr. Heiderscheid said. The eight include junior Tristin Lieberman, foreign exchange student Lucas Jonk, sophomore Kyle Tucker, sophomore Matt Busse and a transfer from Triad, junior Blake Broshow. “Now we have to fill this void because we completely gutted our team in an area that was our strength,” Mr. Heiderscheid said.

Heaton was the goalie for the state title team last year, and this year he will also be hard to replace. Junior Trey Riley and senior Trentan Daley are the two options to play the minutes in net.

Moving to the other side of the ball, the offense will be the strength of the Tigers. Landon Paul, the four-year starter, will lead the inside midfielders.  His 13 goals and 11 assists will be accompanied by Andrew Mullican and Andrew Effler.

The outside midfielders are still up in the air. Potential players could be seniors Kyle Swanson and Drew Flaugher, sophomores Mohammad Hamad and Hamada Freese and freshman Alec Mills.

A big part to last year’s team was forward striker Brett Heinlein. Suleman Bazai will man the attack. Mr. Heiderscheid said that Bazai creates chances because he is faster than Dash from “The Incredibles.”

“This year is about reinventing ourselves,” Burke said. “We have to play to what suits us and build around our strengths.”

The first time you can find your Tigers in action will be at Granite City on Thursday, Aug. 28 at 6:45 p.m.