- April 25, 2024
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The Beautiful Game is back, and schools around Orange County and the rest of Florida are ready after a long off-season of training and conditioning.
Last season, teams like the Foundation Academy boys and West Orange girls teams finished with 10 or more wins — making the area one of the strongest in Central Florida when it comes to soccer.
The following is a quick breakdown of each school going into the 2019-20 season.
Coach: Brian Poston
Outlook: With a low turnout, CFCA is going co-ed this season with 14 total players. The Eagles will be led by Larry Forrest.
Coach: David Hill
2018-19 Record: 5-8-1
Outlook: The Eagles go into the new year having lost senior leader and leading scorer Caleb Smith (14 goals, three assists) to graduation, along with a few other key pieces from last year. Luckily, the Eagles will have some talent coming back in the form of Connor Bryant (two goals, one assist), Logan Tewson (two goals, one assist) and Isaac Titus (one goal, three assists), which will be needed in a strong district.
Coach: David Hill
2018-19 Record: 6-8
Outlook: Last year was a roller coaster for Legacy Charter. The Eagles traded wins and losses throughout the 2018-19 season. This year, the Eagles are without leading goal-scorer Julianna Wright (seven goals, four assists), but they do return two of their top-four scorers in sophomore Hailey Tate (six goals) and Kiersten Knight (three goals, one assist). Tate also happens be head coach David Hill’s most experienced goalie — a position in which she clocked in only 170 minutes.
Coach: Carlos Perez
2018-19 Record: 15-3-1
Outlook: Last season, Foundation’s boys team was one of the best in the business. It led all local teams with 15 wins while also snagging a district title thanks to a high-scoring offense tled by senior Luke Chase (20 goals, 17 assists). This season, the Lions will be under the leadership of Carlos Perez, who still has a lot of talent on the roster. Ian Garcia — who last year as a freshman netted 19 goals — is back with more experience, while teammates such as David Gustafson should light up the scoreboard.
Coach: James Grosshans
2018-19 Record: 5-9
Outlook: Last season’s Foundation girls soccer team was loaded with young talent, which is coming back for another season. Eighth-graders Kaitlyn Clark and Mackenzie Berly dominated the field whenever they stepped foot on it. Clark led the team in goals with 21, and Berly had five. Head coach James Grosshans’ team is young, but there is no denying the talent is there to build on the small successes of last year’s team.
Coach: Peter Moore
2018-19 Record: 9-5-3
Outlook: The Knights are coming off a pretty successful season during which they won nine games and finish third in the Class 5A, District 4 soccer standings (only behind second-place West Orange and district champion Olympia). Ocoee has gotten progressively better under the tutelage of head coach Peter Moore — who took over the program during the 2013-14 season.
Coach: Kayla Gains
2018-19 Record: 5-13
Outlook: Last season was a tough one for first-year head coach Kayla Gains. The Knights finished the year with just five wins. During that season, the Knights struggled on defense — giving up 107 goals in 18 games.
Coach: Scott Fisher
2018-19 Record: 12-3-2
Outlook: The 2018-19 season for West Orange was largely a success for head coach Scott Fisher, as he continuously builds the Warriors into one of the area’s top teams. After winning 12 games during the season, the Warriors ended the year with a tough loss to Olympia in the district final before being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round by Lake Mary. You can bet Fisher’s boys will be looking for payback come this season.
Coach: Jeffrey Brozovich
2018-19 Record: 10-4-2
Outlook: The West Orange girls team picked up its first 10-win season since the 2016-17 campaign, thanks in part to a stifling defense that held opponents to just 1.1 goals per game. Last season’s stellar showing came to an end against Apopka in the district semis — leaving the Warriors wanting for more. Offensively, the Warriors will look to work on goal scoring — something that was a bit of a struggle for West Orange all of last season.
