The varsity Eagles soccer team begins their season this year with a scrimmage against the Reagan Raiders on December 27th.

The team feels comfortable with many of the varsity payers returning from last year.

“We have many returning players, we only lost two from last year,” Head Coach Robert Williams said.

Varsity and junior varsity’s first regular season game is on January 10th, during the Hays Rebel cup. The first game for the freshmen is on January 22nd at Akins.

“I want to see how the team responds to actually playing on the field as a team,” Williams said.

The team will rely on their varsity experience heavily this year.

“Our varsity has more experience than most of the teams in the Austin district,” Williams said. “Most teams have younger players on their teams.”

The players seem to be confident about the upcoming season.

“The varsity team has an amazing touch to them,” junior Eric Lozano said.

Some of the players believe that they have a chance to play at the professional level, as players from past teams have.

“Some players on the team may have a chance to go professional, like some of the previous players from Akins have,” Lozano said.

Lozano, however, has no intentions on playing at the professional level.

“I play soccer for fun and that is it,” Lozano said.

One of Lozano’s fellow teammates seems to agree with him about how the team will do this year.

“We help the new players by scrimmaging them and telling them what they can improve on to be better players,” Junior Javier Martinez said.

Martinez and Lozano play soccer for different reasons.

“I have always watched soccer as a kid and wanted to play it,” Martinez said. “I have been playing soccer since I was seven, now I am 17 and still playing.”