Soccer Gets Ready for another Great Season

By: Forest Langhorne
Leesburg, VA- Tuscarora boasts many different and successful spring sports, ranging anywhere from the hurdles on the track to the boys’ and girls’ lacrosse fields.  But among all of Tuscarora’s many spring sports, boys’ soccer reigns supreme in both school participation and success.  And as the winter gets warmer and our chances of getting snow exponentially decline, the 2012 Tuscarora spring sports season (not so) slowly approaches, and boys’ soccer, along with all the other spring sports, is ramping up practices to get ready for another successful season.
But to understand the motivation behind this year’s strenuous conditioning, one must understand last’s year epic season for boys’ soccer.  Since we were starting out as a first year school, not many people expected much more than a Districts birth for the new team, including the players and coaches.  However, defying everyone’s expectations, the soccer team went on to win the large majority of their games and ultimately secure a spot in the District Championship against Broad Run (who has since advanced up to AAA) after an underdog win against the heavily favored Park View. Tuscarora then secured a spot in states after a miracle overtime win against Kettle Run.  It was only after the states game that the boys’ soccer team was eliminated from the playoffs, ending a season with a state honorable mention for sophomore Angel Garcia and a Region II Coach of the Year award for Coach Dave Gryder.
So in order to try to meet the goals for this season, boys’ soccer has been conditioning for the since early December 2011 and has been working hard 2 days a week ever since then.  “The conditioning’s been tough, but I’m looking forward to what it does for the season,” said junior Preston Phillips.  “I hope we can make it to states again this year, and advance farther than we did last year.” Preston went on to comment about his hopes for the season.  And from the looks of the team this year, including a couple of new additions such as freshman Sergio Resendiz, things are looking up for another stellar season on the part of boys’ soccer.