The start of the South Carolina High School League soccer season is fast approaching and the Academic Magnet High School Soccer program has started preparing for the challenging journey that lies ahead.  On January 2nd, dozens of prospective players gathered on School of the Arts’ practice field to begin the annual month long conditioning session prior to the soccer season.  The idea is to have the girls run long sprints and intervals so that come game time the girls can focus on winning instead of getting into shape.  This first step in the preseason will be crucial as the girls will be facing some of the toughest teams from South Carolina and otherwise, most notably Parkview (GA), Peachtree Ridge (GA), and AC Reynolds (NC).

The Girls’ 2017 team  has had some major changes since the end of last year following their difficult loss to archrival Bishop England in the State Semifinal.  Not only did the team have to say goodbye to six starters with the graduation of their beloved seniors but longtime Head Coach Anna Merriman, whom lead the girls’ team to their first ever state championship, moved to North Carolina over summer 2016. Despite these challenges new Girls Varsity Coach Alister Delong and Assistant Coaches Maggie Mcduffie and Doug Delong are eager to get back in the danger zone and have made it very clear: the team’s main goal is to be on the field in Columbia on May 19th to win the state championship.

Now that Bishop England has moved up to AAA, Magnet’s biggest lower state competition will be Wade Hampton of Greenville who finished being ranked 8th in the state, according to maxpreps.com.  In the upper state, familiar state final opponent Christ Church (ranked 42nd at the end of last season) and St. Joesph’s Episcopal (43rd) will likely be battling to face the lower state champion on May 19th.  AMHS finished their season with a respectable ranking of 17 but have the potential to move significantly upwards in the rankings and claim their fifth state championship title.

Anyone who is interested in playing soccer (boys, girls, Varsity, or JV) is encouraged to attend conditioning (although not mandatory it is a great way to get in shape before tryouts and meet the coaches!) every Monday-Thursday in January from 3:45-5 pm at the SOA practice field.  Tryouts will be Monday, January 30 to Thursday, February 2 and teams will be announced Friday, February 3.  Boys tryouts will be held at St. Andrews Middle School and girls tryouts will be held at the SOA practice field.  See any returning player or Mrs. Yackey with any questions or for more information.  Go Raptors and DWCC!