See what Coach Steve Fugmann and some of his players had to say about the upcoming Lexington Christian girls’ soccer season.
Jared Peck, Real-Time Sports Reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader and co-founder of SoccerintheBluegrass.com, visited all nine Lexington high schools and spoke with coaches and players about the upcoming season. Over the next several days, SITB will release the notes and videos from those interviews that were used for the Herald-Leader’s preseason preview: Girls’ soccer: Big players, big games, high stakes in Lexington
KHSAA link: Lexington Christian schedule
Coach Steve Fugmann
This is an exciting group. We’ve got some good players. We’re going to face the same issues we face every year: We’re a smaller school, so, we’re not always as deep. We’re in the toughest district in the state in my belief. But that stuff doesn’t change from year to year, so we embrace it and go with it. This is a pretty high energy group. They like to play. They like to compete and if you’ve got that kind of a group to coach, it makes for a fun season.
On impact players: Grace Henry in the goal, this is her senior year, so we’re expecting big things from her. Her sister Audry, she’ll be a sophomore, but she’s a pretty impactful player. Grace Jacobs is a junior, we’re going to count on her to keep us organized in the back and do a lot of things. They’re all vocal. Sometimes you get great leaders and they’re not vocal. They’ll lead by action, but you don’t always here them. But this year, I’m excited because we have leaders that aren’t afraid to step up and speak. They’re going to hear a different voice than the coaches voices all the time and that’s important.
On Grace Jacobs: She’s very, very smart, first and foremost. If you gave her a new position to play, she’ll go home and study. She takes whatever role you put her in very seriously and wants to do her best. She’s one that will be vocal, step up and speak. If she sees something that doesn’t look like what we should be doing, she’ll say ‘hey, we’ve got to do this.’ She’s very, very encouraging.
On competing in the 11th Region: We need to get out of the region more. Again, it’s one of the toughest. And we like it like that. When we are in the toughest region, it makes us coach harder. It makes them train harder. And that’s what you want. We want competition, and being in this region and district, you can’t ask for anything better.
The seniors know how difficult it is. What’s challenging is when you’ve got a group of freshmen, or some sophomores, they aren’t used to game after game after game of very difficult opponents, unless they’ve played some high level club soccer … it’s more of a mental challenge than physical.
Grace Jacobs, junior
These are some of the girls that I’ve grown up playing with, and I’m think I’m looking forward to playing their last high school season.
Lexi Sheely, senior
I think we’re going to compete better, because we’re getting in better shape. The girls I play with, I think they make it worth it. We’re going to make the best out of it.
Camille Downing, senior
I think we’re going to be good this year. … Some of us have been playing together since fifth grade, and it’s like everything kind of comes together.
