Now that December is here, so are campfires, pumpkin spice lattes, Christmas caroling and most importantly: soccer season.

Boys and girls tryouts began Monday, November 28^th at 4:00 pm on the turf as they shared the field with one another. Tryouts for the boys continued onto Tuesday morning, November 29th at 6:30 am, and tryouts for the girls continued onto Tuesday afternoon at 4:00 pm. This would be the last time students would have the ability to strut their talent. These tense tryouts concluded Wednesday morning, when students discovered who made JV, Varsity or manager and who would have to try out again next year. Though the climate was chilly and the competition was tough, students fought through and didn’t let their soon-to-be-teammates down.

19 boys made the varsity team and 22 made the JV team. Coach Aldrich also chose four managers and one tech guru.

The past two years, the boys’ team has missed playoffs by one game. This year, more than ever, the teammates and coaches believe that they can make it to playoffs.

“We are committed more than ever, playing stronger with a passion for the love of the sport, and do as much injury prevention measures as possible to stay healthy during the stretch. Our talent pool grew this year, players returning are motivated and talented, and we are on a mission; a mission that wasn’t completed two years ago,” coach and algebra teacher Coach Aldrich said.

Now that the new season has started, many of us wonder who the biggest opponent of the season will be. Coach Aldrich says our first and greatest opponent is definitely ourselves.

“If we can’t stay healthy, we turn into a young team again for the 3^rd year. We were the only ones holding ourselves back for the last two years. Beyond us, it will be Cedar Park. If we can defeat Cedar Park, it will help break our mentality that no matter our roots, we can go as far as we want when we focus on us instead of who we are playing against,” Coach Aldrich said.

The first scrimmage of the boys’ season is January 3^rd, 2012. The scrimmage will be away, while JV and Varsity will play against the Pflugerville Panthers at Pflugerville High School.

“Please come out and support us! We have so much faith in our success this year and as long as we stay positive and work hard we can definitely make it far this season,” junior Theo Arshawsky said.