On a cold and blustery evening, the Seymour Eagles got some preseason soccer work in with a 3-1 victory over county rival The King’s Academy Tuesday at the TKA soccer complex.
Despite losing nine seniors from last season’s team, first-year SHS head coach Bobby Norwood don’t expect a major productivity drop-off, judging from what he’s seen from his squad so far.
“I think we’re going to be good,” said Norwood. “I definitely think this year’s team has a chance to be just as good as they were last year.”
Norwood said he’s seen a nice carryover from last season on a squad made up of five seniors, five juniors, seven sophomores and one freshman.
“I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how a lot of these guys have improved since last year,” Norwood observed. “There actually isn’t as much work to do (with the squad’s returning players) because they already knew what we expected from them. We’ve still got to get some of the younger guys caught up on what we’re doing but I think we’re in good shape going into the season.”
The Eagles got two goals from standout senior Carlos Lopez Tuesday night in the scrimmage against The King’s Academy. Spencer Proctor also added a score for Seymour.
Lopez put the Eagles on the board first with a score early in the first half before The King’s Academy evened the count with a marker shortly before halftime. Lopez put SHS on top for good early in the second half and Proctor added his goal a few minutes later.
Norwood said he subbed frequently throughout the contest and allowed his younger players to pick up some valuable playing-experience in a game-like situation.
Senior keepers Garrison Taylor and Garrett Becker both spent time in the goal for the Eagles during the scrimmage.
Seymour will next scrimmage at Knox-Central Friday evening at 5:50 against the Bobcats. The Eagles will compete in Saturday’s KIL Soccer Jamboree, beginning at 11:30, with back-to-back games against Central and Halls, respectively.
A full recap of Saturday's KIL Soccer Jamboree will be in next week's edition of The Seymour Herald.