STORY BY JASMINE ROBLES
VIDEO BY CARTER POPEJOY
After back-to-back MIAA Conference championships and an appearance in the National Semifinals, the FHSU soccer team transitioned into a new league this year: the Great American Conference.
The GAC includes four teams from the last MIA and, six new teams to compete against. However, that isn’t stopping them from defending their title or achieving the goal, finals.
“We talk about it all the time, it hurts knowing that we were a goal away from the finals, we would have beaten the team that won it all, and we want to be back to prove that we should have been the number one teams,” senior goalkeeper Cullen Fisch said.
The team numbers remain the same from last year with twenty returning players and ten Freshman.
“I don’t think its much difference because we always do have a target on our back now. Everyone wants to beat us, everyone wants to win the conference like we did last year and for us, we just have to defend it,” Co-captain Moritz Walther said. “I guess every team we play it’s gonna be one of their biggest games in the season, so everyone is gonna be at 110% when they play us.”
In addition, the team this year has a new coach, Gerry Cleary. Cleary has been coaching since 1999, and has been a head coach since 2003.
“[Coach] he just has a better resume than anybody on the team, he’s won national championships, he’s got what it takes to get us there, we trust him, we know he will do the right stuff to get us there,” Fisch said.
The team says there isn’t much of a difference between a new coach and new conference. Cleary states that it’s all the same, just having to win a few more games to get to where they need to be. With a strong driven team and new head coach, the team has a strong drive to achieve their goal.
“Going to the finals is always gonna be there, no matter what,” Walther said.
FHSU is off to a 2-0 start in GAC play after a 2-1 OT victory over former MIAA foe, Northeastern State last Thursday and a 2-0 win over Rogers State on Saturday. The Tigers next travel to Ouachita Baptist on Thursday. First kick is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.