Sallisaw to begin season Monday night at home against Van Buren

The 2025 soccer seasons will get underway Monday night for the Sallisaw Black Diamonds and Lady Diamonds with home matches against Van Buren, Ark., at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium. The girls’ match will begin at 5 p.m., followed by the boys’ contest at 7 p.m.

The Black Diamonds were 6-4 a season ago and 4-3 in district play, while the Lady Diamonds were 3-8 overall and 3-5 in district matches. Sallisaw soccer coach Sinue Rodriguez said both teams are ready to go for 2025.

“Our boys and girls are pretty excited,” Rodriguez said. “I’m excited. It’s always exciting when you’re coming into another season to see what we’re able to do — and see what we need to do, and see what we’ve gotten better at. It’s a very dynamic team we have for both boys and girls. We’ve been really working hard since August. It’s been a few months that we’ve been eager (to get the season going), and I know our kids are hungry to go at it. I think they’re excited, and we (coaches) are all excited. We’re all hoping for good things (this season).”

The Black Diamonds return 11 players from last year’s roster, keyed by goalscoring machine junior Wes Rodriguez, who scored 31 goals a season ago.

“We’re very blessed to have him,” the Sallisaw coach said about his leading scorer. “I think he’s very key to the team, but we’ve surrounded him with some very good players. That helps him (Rodriguez) a lot, too.”

The other returning players are seniors Josh Taylor, Wyatt Allen, Brian Castor and Johan Salinas, juniors Brecken Hennessee, Phillip Hennessee, Jason Hight, Rustyn Romero and Chris Silos and sophomores Cesar Morales, Sama Salinas and Yordi Alcantara.

“Last year, we only graduated two starters, so we have nine players back who played games last year,” Rodriguez said. “That’s a big key because we now have experience, so we’re going to see what we can do.”

Newcomers are senior Christian Morales, junior Adrien Romero, sophomore Colin Kremer and freshmen Anthony Adame, Enoc Estrada, Elijah Hilgendorf, Dawson Upton and Willy Alvarado.

The Lady Diamonds are returning 13 players from last season’s squad. Back are juniors Jocelyn Rivera, Kyra Taylor, Brooklyn Donaldson, Laynie Gerred and Sol Alvarado and sophomores Bella Morales, Alayna Donaldson, Maliyah Holmes, Mya Thomas, Aria Kyser and Emilie Robbins.

“We have a lot of girls who have experience under their belts from the last two to three years,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a blessing in itself, and it’s a good thing. We also have some freshmen coming in that will help the team.”

Among the new faces are freshman Madelynne Alvarez, sophomore Rachael Ivy, juniors Allison Lor and Haley Birdtail and seniors Makenna Bormann, Promise Flute and AvaLynn Donaldson. Bormann and Flute have never played soccer before until this season, with their first action being Tuesday night’s final scrimmage of the preseason against Muskogee at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium.

“Promise and Makenna played their first-ever soccer game, and it seemed like they had played all their life,” Rodriguez said about Flute and Bormann.

Neither team made the postseason last year, but Rodriguez said the Black Diamonds and Lady Diamonds are ready to change that in 2025.

“When we talk about goals, that’s what we’re trying to do,” he said. “The goal is to try to get into the playoffs. That’s our No. 1 goal, but we have to play it game by game. We have to get better every week.”

Besides the new players for both teams, something else that is new is the district. Both teams were bumped up from Class 3A last season to Class 4A this season. So the district teams this season will be new ones all the way around.

“We have Hilldale, Wagoner, Stilwell, Poteau, Tulsa McLain, (Tulsa) Victory Christian and (Tulsa) Cascia Hall on the boys side and (Tulsa) Metro Christian on the girls side,” Rodriguez said. “It’s going to be a tough schedule, but I told these kids we will need to be ready (for district play). We can’t wait to start. Victory Christian will be our first district games (on April 3 at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium).”

As for Tuesday night’s preseason finales, the Black Diamonds defeated Muskogee 6-2 with Wes Rodriguez scoring four of the six goals, while Castor and Brecken Hennessee each scored a goal. Castor had two assists, while Rustyn Romero, Sama Salinas and Cesar Morales each had an assist. Josh Taylor, who is playing goalkeeper for the first time ever, had four saves.

The Lady Diamonds lost 4-3 to Muskogee in a match that went to penalty kicks — which was won by the Lady Roughers 4-2.

Bella Morales had two goals, while Kyra Taylor had one. In fact, Taylor’s goal and Morales’ second goal came about 45 seconds apart in the second half to knot the game at 3-all to force the extra session with penalty kicks. Sallisaw’s lone penalty kick score came from Brooklyn Donaldson. Flute made 15 saves.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 2025 Spring Sports Guide will publish March 28, which will have team photographs, rosters and schedules. Look for more season-preview stories publishing until the end of March as coaches return their preseason questionnaires to Your TIMES.