The Trinity Lutheran soccer teams will face some stiff competition in their opening matches this week.
The Trinity girls will open their schedule tonight at home against Providence, while the Trinity boys will open Tuesday at Greenwood Christian.
The Trinity girls are coming off a sectional title as they defeated Providence on the Pioneers’ field last fall.
Heading up the returning players for the Trinity girls is Kailene Cockerham, who scored 17 goals last fall.
Trinity girls coach Thom Hayes said, “Our primary threat on offense is Kailene, obviously, and Emma Myers and Sarah Lemming. Emma will score quite a few goals.
“We’re focusing on defense and counter attack. That is kind of what our note of attack is going to be. I’m looking to compact our defense and our midfield, so we’re going to play the center third of the field up and down the field and not spend a whole lot of time out by the sideline defending for sure.
“We want to move the ball up and then we’ll get it out wide in the attack third if we have that opportunity.”
Samantha Enzinger will be in goal for the Cougars. The centerbacks will be Kathryn Whitmore and Kaydence Miller.
“Kaydence did well for us in midfield last year and she’s developed a lot in the last year. Kathryn did awesome for us at that position last year, so I think those two are going to be solid in the middle,” Hayes said as he begins his third year as head coach of the Trinity girls.
“I think we’ve come a long way in practice the past two weeks,” he said.
Mya Lindroth played midfield last fall and is looking for a lot of playing time this season.
“I had the speed so I mainly ran and got the ball,” she said. “I want to be on the field more this season and make a few goals. I want to work on my footwork, too.
“I think it is just going to take us to be aggressive, go after the ball and believe in ourselves at this point because I feel if we doubt ourselves then we’re not going to get anywhere.”
The Trinity boys have a new head coach in Todd Jack. He said, “I just try to instill in them as leaders to put forth their best forward and help establish a good, solid year for the upcoming squad as we move forward with a lot of hard work and physical play.”
He said discipline is important, and team’s goal is to score a goal in every game this season.
Jack said he wants his team to control the ball at midfield.
“Everything is control. This game is about control,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how many goals you have, necessarily, if you don’t have good control, so we need to control play and that is how you get goals.”
He expects Kade Hill and Conner Sims to be the leaders at midfield, and for Levi Pottschmidt to be the main attacker, with Jacob Sabotin also being counted on for scoring.
Brayden Stockelman, who did not play last year, will be the starting goalie.
“I plan to keep that defensive line pretty fresh.” Jack said and mentioned Prader Kiel as the leader there.
Sims is looking forward to helping the Cougars get back on the winning side this fall, and is looking forward to the new style offense the Cougars will be playing.
“Last year we would notice other teams passing back just to advance the ball,” he said. “We’ve taken that into consideration, and with our new coach we’ve been working on our passing skills and learned how to play the field better.
“Our time of possession should increase drastically from last year to this year.
Sims likes attacking on the right side of the field, but if he’s looking to pass, he’d rather be on the left side so he can curve the ball into the middle.
“The coach said he wants to bring a new culture to soccer here at Trinity,” Sims said. “I have no doubt in my mind that we can have a winning season.”