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CASSOPOLIS — Cassopolis boys soccer coach Austin Francis can see daily improvement out of his team.

Monday’s performance in a 3-1 home win by the Rangers over Kalamazoo Home School was evidence of that.

“I’m really proud of these guys. This is our first win of the season,” said Francis, whose Rangers’ improved to 1-4-2 overall. “Our last couple matches before tonight were both ties so we’re really starting to see some progress. We’re starting to win more of the 50-50 balls and challenging the other team more now.”

With just one lone senior – William Westrate – on the roster the future is looking very promising for Cassopolis boys’ soccer. In fact 11 of the Rangers’ 16-man roster are either sophomores or freshmen. There are only four juniors on the squad.

Coming off a 3-3 tie at Howardsville Christian School on Saturday, Cassopolis scored all the goals it would need in the opening 40 minutes against the Cougars.

Cassopolis grabbed a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the match after sophomore Matthew Clendenin scored at 35:16 off an assist from classmate Landon Burns.

Westrate made it 2-0 at 21:54 of the first half when he blasted a shot past Cougars’ netminder Ethan Boettcher with Burns racking up his second assist of the night. 

Burns got into the scoring act with 19:25 left in the half with a shot into the left corner of the net. Sophomore Aiden Purcell was credited with the assist for the Rangers. 

Kalamazoo Home School notched its first goal late in the half when Micah Ullman scored unassisted with 10:54 left in the half. 

“The boys came out passing pretty well at the beginning of the match. I’m not sure if the other team (Cougars) settled in or if our kids relaxed too much there in the second half,” Francis said.

“The first couple matches this year we took too many seconds getting the ball in and now we’re actually pressuring other teams immediately and that gives us more possessions. Our kids are communicating more as well.”

Francis and his team attended Sunday’s NCAA Division I match in South Bend between host Notre Dame University and Indiana University. 

“I don’t know how much that game played into our match tonight but it’s a higher caliber play and they see how much college players communicate. I can coach that, but for our kids to see it is really helpful,” Francis said.

The second half turned into a defensive battle with neither team being able to find the back of the net despite multiple scoring opportunities. 

Kalamazoo Home School recorded 11 shots on goals to just six for Cassopolis. But it was the Rangers who made their shots count. 

Francis was equally proud of his Rangers at the defensive end of the field, especially junior goal keeper Alan Wegner who registered a total of 11 saves in the match.

“Alan is very vocal and has done a nice job of rotating his body quickly to protect himself. He does what he has to in order to make some great saves against opposing strikers,” Francis said.

Cassopolis had four corner kicks and scored off one of those. The  Cougars had two corner kicks themselves.

Francis also credited the play of Landon Burns, the team’s top striker, along with Westrate who played almost the full 80 minutes each match.

“William maintains our midfield a lot and is our vocal leader there. Logan Burns, our center back, also had a solid match. Matthew is one of our other strikers that’s progressed alot as well this season,” Francis said. 

Cassopolis has six players who also play on the school’s varsity football team. They include Westrate, Wegner, Elijah Wagoner, CJ Conrad, Jayden Pflug and Mason Nelson. Wagoner and Nelson’s primary sport is football while the others concentrate mostly on soccer. 

Boettcher ended up with three saves for the Cougars. 

Winning a district championship is the No. 1 goal for Cassopolis this season.

“Our school has never won a district championship so that’s high on our list,” Francis said.

The Rangers have lost twice in the district finals in Francis’ 12 years as head coach.

“I feel like with this group there is a different kind of mentality. On Saturday we were down 3-1 against Howardsville Christian and came back to tie it. These kids never give up and our motto this year is ‘Do It Anyway’. There are times in life where things are going to be tough and you have to step up and do something anyway. This is a very cohesive group. We’ve been coaching these kids to be more of a possession team. Lots of jabs wear the opposing team down,” Francis said. “The development of our junior high program which began five years ago is going to help the culture of our high school program out tremendously.” 

Cassopolis visits Comstock Wednesday for a Southwest 10 Conference matchup at 7 p.m.