Eaglettes seek district repeat

Shelbyville Central coach Neal Gordon is surrounded by his senior class as the Eaglettes prepare for the start of the upcoming soccer season. Standing behind Gordon are, from left, manager Ryan Clanton, Shelby Lamb, Kayla Anderson, Emily Cook and Rachel Imes.
(T-G Photo by Gary Johnson)

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The Eaglettes posted a 12-5-4 record last year and didn't lose a game to a non-ranked opponent before closing the season with a 2-0 loss to Siegel in the region tournament.

"Our goals haven't changed. We want to win the district regular season and tournament and advance in the postseason as far as we can," Gordon said.

Gone is a very talented senior class that graduated with a ton of experience but as much as Gordon will miss those leaders he's just as excited to see others step up.

"It's always hard to replace a group of seniors like we had last year but we return a number of players that have quite a bit of experience even though they are fairly young," Gordon said.

With so many young players on the roster, strong leadership on the field will be a key to the success of the Eaglettes this season. They'll rely on seniors Kayla Anderson, Emily Cook, Rachel Imes and Shelby Lamb for guidance.

"Obviously when you are as young as we are, it all hinges on leadership from seniors and upperclassmen in general. We've got a good group of seniors and some other classmen as well that will be called upon to help guide and mold the younger players," Gordon said.

"We're just excited with what we expect to be a good year for our team. We've got a lot of young kids in our program right now and we're very excited with the energy they bring being young. We feel we have a nice balance of experienced players to go along with some talented younger, less experienced players."

The Eaglettes are gifted with great team speed and should defend well also.

"We should be really strong in the back. We return everybody from last year back there and that will be a strength for us," Gordon said.

Look for Shelbyville to add a little different style of play from time to time this year.

With TSSAA's new realignment, Coffee County is no longer part of District 8-AAA, leaving just six teams in the district.

"Now we'll all be competing for one of two byes into the district tournament with only six teams in the district," Gordon said. "As always, Columbia and Tullahoma are teams to watch, along with really everybody else."

Shelbyville opens the season at home Aug. 25 at 6 p.m. against Gallatin.