Fillies Coach Christopher Earls spoke about how the team is preparing differently this season versus last season for the challenges ahead.
“We are going to focus a lot on teamwork,” he said. “Soccer is not one of those individual sports, if the team is not clicking as a team, then it all falls apart, it all crumbles. So, working on trying to find the weak links to start with and then strengthening those weak links—whether that be on offense, defense, in the goal—just trying to assess a little bit better this year, and grow into the program”.
Whitner Bobo, one of the captains for the Fillies soccer team, also spoke about how she’s helping the team out this year versus last year.
“I think as a captain that you have to lead the girls, especially the freshmen. It can be hard coming into a new environment, especially being away from home for the first time. So, kind of be a friendly face once they get here, on and off the field,” Bobo said.
Coming into a new environment, especially transitioning from high school sports to college sports, can be hard for incoming college athletes. It can cause a shift in play style completely and allow for a new understanding for the game.
Freshman and Fillies soccer player Charley Brannen spoke about the difference in play style of high school and college.
“The pace is extremely fast. It’s a lot faster than high school,” Brannen said. “You have to control a lot more of what you’re doing and not worry about what other people are doing. Within high school, you’re more worried about what other people are doing. Here, you just kind of have to focus on doing your best yourself because everybody else has to cover themselves too.”
ABAC athletic programs are also going into their second year in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), after transitioning from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). This change puts ABAC’s sports team into a tougher bracket than they have been used to.
Molly Parker, another captain of the Fillies soccer team, spoke about the difference in competition between the transition and how it affected the team. “When we were in the NJCAA, we did pretty good,” Parker said. “We sat in the middle, kind of won a lot of our games, and I think that last year when we moved up, it was a big change for us. We weren’t expecting it—it was a lot harder on some of us cause we had to spend more time and put more work in. But I think this year we are much more prepared.”
The Fillies are looking to light a spark this season and show that they have what it takes to be better than they were before. With their hard work and dedication, they are bound to improve in every aspect that they can this season.
To view the Fillies soccer schedule, check out https://athletics.abac.edu/, and come on out to the next game to show your support.