South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

South St. Louis County News

St. Louis Call Newspapers

Lindbergh High School girls’ soccer coach anxiously awaits season opener

By STEPHEN GLOVER

For the Call

The girls’ soccer team at Lindbergh High is looking to improve on last year’s record of 13-10-1 with a 4-3 mark in Suburban West Conference play.

Flyers head coach Mark Giesing is anxious to get the season underway after a few weeks of practice in the preseason.

“We’ve had a decent preseason,” Giesing told the Call. “We’re anxious to get the season going.”

Senior co-captian Amy Hake will serve as one of the main cogs in the Lindbergh defense this season.

“Amy’s an incredible athlete,” Giesing said. “The greatest thing about Amy is her versatility. She’s a constant hustler and I think her work ethic is an inspiration to her teammates.”

The Flyers other co-captain is senior forward Bridget Holmes. Last season Holmes led the Flyers in goals scored with seven and game winning goals with three.

“Bridget’s one of the people on this year’s team that we’ll be looking to put the ball into the back of the net,” Giesing said. “She’s got the quickest release shot that I’ve seen in the game. When she’s on the field, she’s very deadly.”

Three other seniors that figure to be key contributors to this season’s team are midfielders Courtney Naegel and Samantha Ullrich along with defender Claire Niehoff.

“Courtney’s one of our hardest workers in the past four years,” Giesing said. “She’s worked her way up through the J.V. ranks and that’s what we really like about her.”

Niehoff recorded one goal and one assist last season while Ullrich tallied one assist during the 2004 campaign.

“Claire is an intelligent player with a very strong leg,” he said. “Samantha is another player that has great vision in the field.”

The Flyers starting goalkeeper this season will be junior Hayley Fox, who posted a record of 13-10-1 in 2004.

Fox also carried a 1.31 goals-against average and a 0.86 save percentage.

“Hayley’s been a continually improving goalkeeper,” Giesing said. “I think she’s going to be one of the emerging goaltend-ers in the area.”

Junior Allison Giles offers versatility in the midfield, Giesing said.

“Allison is just a very versatile player and we like her in the center midfielder position,” he said. “She’s the kind of player that can go out there and just run all day for you.”

Geising also wants junior Stefanie Hermann more involved defensively this season.

“Stefanie’s been very solid for us in that position,” Giesing said. “We’re hoping to get her more involved in that position this season.”

The Flyers opened the season last Mon-day against University City in the first round of the Suburban South/West Tournament — after the Call went to press. The tournament should not only give Lindbergh a good look at their conference opponents, but also a look at some teams they normally wouldn’t play in the season.

And Giesing believes the Suburban West Conference has become one of the premier conferences in the state with the addition of Oakville Senior High this season.

“With Oakville’s addition, the Suburban West is becoming a great conference,” Giesing said. “It makes us one of the strongest conferences in the state.”

The championship game of the Suburban South/West Tournament is 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 23, with the site to be determined.

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