Hometown coach set to lead East into his final North Cup championship against hosts
Dylan Gruntzel wears many hats but has decided to set one down.
The Wichita East girls soccer coach has decided to step down after the 2019 season, which will make the Aces’ championship game appearance in the North Cup on Saturday his last.
Gruntzel, 32, also serves as an assistant coach at Newman and club coach with Kansas Rush. He said his life goals have changed. He has started his own soccer training business and also wants to see whether he can make it as a college coach. But family trumped everything.
“I have a girlfriend who has two kids, and those kids are very much my kids, too, in my eyes,” he said. “At the end of the day, I just want to be able to watch them grow up. I don’t want to be a father figure that’s not there.”
Gruntzel has spent most of his life around the East soccer programs. He spent his high school career with the Aces in the fall and was a manager for the girls team by spring. After one year away while he was in college, he came back and hasn’t left.
Before he took over the Aces’ girls program in 2013, East was a .500 team in the middle of the City League pack, Gruntzel said. Since he was hired, East has reached the Class 6A state semifinals, and Gruntzel was chosen The Eagle’s All-Metro Coach of the Year in 2017.
Last year, East won the City League outright for the first time since 2004. With everything Gruntzel brought to the East programs, he said leaving was a hard decision.
“My goal was to make this a step better, and I think we’ve accomplished that,” he said. “I think we’ve made ourselves relevant in the state of Kansas and definitely in the region. People now have to worry about us.”
East beat Mulvane 3-0 in the North Cup semifinals Wednesday night. The Aces got on the board halfway through the first half as senior Josie Goodpasture hit an assist from sophomore Yossi Villagrana that deflected off the goalkeeper and bounced in from about 25 yards.
After goals from Villagrana and senior Sophia Botello, East will have a chance to repeat as North Cup champions. The Aces will have to get past host Wichita North for the second straight year after the Redskins smoked Circle 6-0.
Senior Nayeli Gallo had a monster game with three goals and a pair of assists. North coach Curt Wullschleger said Gallo and fellow senior Irai Fernandez have 50 combined goals this season. Teams know what is coming, but it is one thing to know it and another to stop it, Wullschleger said.
“The girls are just dialed in right now,” he said.
Circle has wins over Collegiate and Maize South, two of the better teams in the Wichita area. Wullscheleger said the Thunderbirds’ potential for the upset was the message coming in.
With the win, North moves to 12-2-0 and will finish its promising season with a pair of games against East. One will be for the North Cup championship. The other will be for at least a share of the City League title.
East is also in the City League hunt along with Kapaun and Carroll. Gruntzel will finish his last regular season with the Aces against North twice and Kapaun.
“I have spent one year away from this place from the time I was 14 to now and I’m 32,” he said. “I have coached siblings and watched kids grow, and I’m going to miss that part of it a lot. I’m sure at our team banquet, I’m going to be crying a lot.”
This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 3:53 PM.