[11/13/01]The St. Aloysius Flashes have the weapons. They have the experience.

Now all they need is a trophy.

After advancing to the South State title game last season, St. Al is set to make a run at a state championship. The Flashes return all 11 starters, including all-state goal keeper and Vicksburg Post Player of the Year Andy Gough, and all-state players Michael Head and Michael Engle.

“We have the potential. The state championship is attainable for us, but there’s a lot of ifs’ that go with it,” said St. Al coach Shirley Agostinelli, the Vicksburg Post’s 2000-01 Coach of the Year.

The biggest ifs are staying healthy and getting in shape, Agostinelli said. Eight of her starting 11 also play football and didn’t start soccer until Monday. Combined with a tough early season schedule, the Flashes may surpass last season’s total of two losses before the calendar turns to December.

St. Al opens with Greenville-St. Joe today, then plays three more games this week, including a date with Class 4A champion Pearl this weekend at the Northwest Rankin Tournament. Games later in the year include 4A power Florence and Class 5A juggernaut Northwest Rankin.

“We always are hurting this game because we haven’t had any practice time. I wish I had another week,” Agostinelli said of today’s opener. “After I get that Greenville game under their belts, they better jell. Then it should come together for us.”

The experience of the team should help the Flashes through the early part of the season, but then there’s the injuries. Engle, Head and Michael Strickland were all banged up for part of the football season, although all have been cleared to play.

“Experience helps a lot. We’ve got the same starting team as last year. We’ve got a lot of banged-up people out here, too, from football. And some that aren’t from football,” senior stopper Blake Warnock said.

But the Flashes have plenty of talent.

Gough, who Agostinelli calls “the backbone” of the team, is only a junior, but will be in his fourth season as the starting goalkeeper. Head scored 28 goals last season and Beau Theobald added 20. Engle made the all-state team as a defender.

The Flashes are so loaded that Agostinelli had a hard time choosing one or two who would stand out this season.

“Our top three players scored over 20 goals. You can’t pick one. And as far as defense is concerned, we had a lot of shutouts. Andy is a superb goalie, but he had some folks in front of him who didn’t let the ball get to him,” Agostinelli said. “I can’t pick one star out of those 11. They’re all good at their positions, and that’s all a coach can ask for.”

The Flashes also have plenty of depth. More than 40 players signed up for this season, Agostinelli said, and 33 remain on the roster.

“People that aren’t starting for us could easily be starting somewhere else,” Warnock said.

The only thing stopping the Flashes from bringing a state championship trophy back to Vicksburg may be themselves, senior defender Landers Grant said.

“We have to stick together as a team. So far we’re coming together,” said Grant, who is returning to the team after taking a two-year hiatus from soccer. “I think if we stay on that track, we’ll do pretty well.”