Seniors lead Wichita Southeast boys soccer to first City League title in 15 years
Following the end of the 2021 season, Wichita Southeast boys soccer coach Cody Fitch created a group chat with members of the freshman class and penned a passionate, motivational message.
A former player and 2006 Southeast graduate, Fitch cared deeply about the success of the program. And although he was new to the job, he believed he had already found the group to turn the program around.
He encouraged the group of 15-year-olds to stay dedicated to the game and promised, if they stuck together, City League and regional championships would follow in their senior year.
“I remember reading it, and I’m not going to lie: At first I thought, ‘Wow, this guy is crazy,’” said Diego Macias, who was part of that freshmen class. “He saw so much potential in us that I don’t think we saw in ourselves at that time.”
However preposterous Fitch’s message may have seemed at first, the passion and belief from a coach resonated with the group.
Call it speaking it into existence or being simply prescient, but Fitch’s guarantee came true on Tuesday when seven of those freshmen, who are now four-year seniors in the program, led Southeast to an 8-0 win over Heights to clinch the program’s first City League championship since 2009.
The Golden Buffaloes (15-0-1) will also take an unbeaten record into the postseason, which begins next week.
“I’ve thought a lot about that message (from Fitch) and I’ve taken that with me through the season,” senior midfielder Jacob Lacio said. “He saw the potential in us before even we did. I was a little emotional after the game thinking about all of those tough losses that I know we could have won and those seasons where I know we could have done better. To be able to finally do this, it means everything to us.”
It was true Fitch was impressed by the depth and talent when the current seniors were freshmen, but it may have been a little motivational coach-speak when laying out such lofty goals.
It’s a credit to the leadership and development of the seven four-year players in the program: Macias, Lacio, Jayden Phrakonkham, Nathan Calderon, Armando Dominguez, Osee Mwamba and Sami Kasri.
“I set that goal for them, but I honestly didn’t know if we would ever get there,” Fitch said. “I knew it was possible, but they’ve surpassed every expectation that I’ve had. They ended up sticking together and they’ve put it all together.”
The front-line speed of Phrakonkham, Calderon and junior Daniel Puga is the fastest Fitch has ever coached, while Macias is the glue who holds the team together in the midfield with Lacio and Mwamba. Dominguez and fellow senior Kirubel Alemu spearhead the defense, which includes Nestor Lopez and Adrian Puga with David Mlendja in goal.
The team has also shown a knack for finding a way to pull out close games, as Southeast is 6-0 in games decided by one goal. The Golden Buffaloes rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit to beat North, then scored in the final minute of overtime against Maize South and won on penalty kicks.
“It means the world to us to look around now and see everybody smiling,” Macias said. “We’ve grown up together and played together, some of us since the YMCA league when we were kids. It’s amazing to look back at how far we’ve come and at the memories we’ve created.”
Southeast plans on creating a few more in the coming weeks.
The program hasn’t reached the state semifinals since 2008, an achievement the group feels is possible despite competing in a loaded Class 6A West regional with traditional powers like Dodge City and Washburn Rural.
It wasn’t too long ago when they were unsure what they were capable of. But now that they have an undefeated season under their belt, they are believing what their coach told them was possible three years ago.
“We have all the confidence in the world now going into every game,” Lacio said. “We know we’re the team to beat and we’ve got the pressure on us to win every game now. People are expecting big things out of us, but I think we’ve shown what we can do this season and that gives me all the confidence that we can go out there and keep doing it.”
This story was originally published October 23, 2024 at 6:03 AM.
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