After Injury-Marred Season, St. Clairsville Has High Hopes For 2026
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- It's come forth from the mouths of any number of athletes, coaches and commentators-- 'injuries are just a part of the game.' But even still, not every team's season looks like St. Clairsville's girls soccer campaign in 2025. Head coach Wes Stoner must have been surprised by the injuries that piled up across last year, with multiple players going down with season-ending injuries, many more missing shorter but still substantial lengths of time, and others playing through pain on the pitch.
"It was tough," Stoner said, speaking before a Thursday practice at St. Clairsville High School. "There was a point where we were down to 10 players at some point because of injuries, it was against Indian Creek, and that was in the middle of the game, so it was rough.
"We had a bunch out. At one point, I think there were seven or eight that were injured. We had a couple majors, and a bunch of minor ones that were a week long, or three weeks long, or whatever. It was tough to navigate."
"Obviously last year we lost a lot of people due to injury, and I think that took a toll on our performance and everything," Ashlynn Lednik, a senior captain on this year's team, said. "But this year coming up, we have got a good group of freshmen, and I think with me back also, we’ll all be really good this year. We have a very talented group of girls for sure, and I hope that we should go far. We should be going, hopefully, to states. Might sound cocky, but I think we should be good."
Aside from multiple since-graduated seniors who suffered injury, Lednik landed on the shelf with a season-ending injury last year. Four-year starting goalie Kiya Kyer played through injury for much of the season, while Kaylee Shafer and others missed smaller lengths of time.
Perhaps also surprising-- given the number of injuries the Red Devils were managing-- was how they performed despite the tribulations. St. Clairsville put together a 10-6-3 season, made it to the OVAC 4A championship game, and staked a OHSAA playoff victory before narrowly falling 2-1 to Tuscarawas Valley in the Division VI Eastern District 2 semifinal.
The strong showing from Stoner's gang, despite hardships, also had a silver lining-- valuable experience for St. C. players who otherwise might not have seen as much time.
"A lot of young girls that are freshmen that are now sophomores and our sophomore who's now a junior, they got a lot of playing time," Stoner said.
"A lot of young girls got playing time, and a lot of young girls are going to get playing time this year too."
"With the injuries, we had a lot of people step up and play positions that they haven’t played before," Emma Gasber, another senior captain on the Red Devils, said. "We had girls that wouldn’t have started, they played full games when we didn’t think they were going to. They got the experience that we’re gonna need them to have this year. We have depth to our team this year from the people last year that we didn’t think were gonna have to play, they got to play."
Gasber and junior Elizabeth Morgan will man two forward spots for St. Clairsville, returning as their team's top two scorers last year with 32 and 26 goals, respectively. Lednik will play at center-mid.
"Ashlynn’s gonna be a force for us. Emma Gasber is gonna be another one as well, our leading scorer last year," Stoner said.
Senior Isabella Cunningham will be the defensive midfielder, who Stoner called his defense's 'quarterback,' while Kaylee Shafer and Isabelle Morgan, both seniors, will play on the outside of the Red Devil defense.
Stoner also made note of a senior transfer in from Kentucky, Addie Middletown-Mobley, who could help the St. C. team.
"State track girl from Kentucky, played soccer as well, she's gonna help us a lot," Stoner said.
A big sophomore class includes Raegan Gaiser, who helped the Red Devil attack last year as a freshman, while incoming freshmen like Molly Schultz, McKenna Daniels and Felicity Morgan could make an instant impact.
The addition of the freshman Felicity makes for three Morgan sisters on Stoner's roster-- Elizabeth up-front, Isabelle as a right back, and Felicity in the midfield.
Kiyer will be back in-goal, looking to break her own record for shutouts in a season, having racked up 11 as a sophomore.
"It’s great, this year we have depth," Stoner said. "I don’t know that we’ve had-- well, we definitely didn’t have any last year because of injuries-- but it’s probably the most deep team I’ve had where we can go 12, 13, 14, 15 girls deep and be comfortable and not really change much of what we do."
St. Clairsville starts their season Friday night against Steubenville Catholic.
"I feel pretty good about our team," Isabelle Morgan, the third and final captain on St. C. this year, said. "We have a lot of depth, so it’s not just the starting 11. We have people on the bench that can go in and be just as good as the starting 11. I think this season we could go pretty far."
A big hope for Stoner for his team's debut Friday? Good health.
"I mean, God willing, we’re all healthy this year," Stoner said with a grin. "Seriously, I feel like we paid all our dues with the injuries last year."