The Athens Drive women’s varsity soccer team has been preparing for the 2014 spring season after finishing the 2013 season with a conference record of 4-10-2. The team has looked to improve its standings in the Southwest Wake Athletic Conference (SWAC) and the state.

In order to improve its overall record for the season, the varsity team has invested in a new coach. There have been three different coaches in the past three years, and the players said that they wanted more stability in the women’s soccer program.  Travis Seese, science teacher at Athens Drive, has assumed the role of the varsity head coach.

“We’ve had so many coaches over the past few years that it’s been hard to get close as a team and figure out our style of play as a group,” said Natalia Gonzalez, junior and three-year varsity player.

Along with coaching the men’s varsity soccer team for five years, Seese previously coached the women’s team for seven years, this being his eighth. Seese will work alongside Mike Seguin, Spanish teacher and junior varsity head coach, to further develop the women’s soccer program at Athens.

The SWAC, formerly Tri-9 conference, has been home to many successful women’s soccer teams in the past, including Green Hope, who went undefeated in the 2013 season with a 16-0 conference record. However, with the loss of many seniors and the former head coach, Green Hope is predicted to have a weaker team in 2014.

Seese and Athens Drive players said they hope to make an impact in the conference standings with the main team goal being making the playoffs.

“We made the playoffs 11 out of the 12 years that I coached varsity in the past, and I’d like to continue that success this season,” said Seese.  “We have a lot of talent this year on the team and I think we’ll be able to meet our goal.”

Seniors Logan Lineberry and Riley Nociti expressed their excitement about the upcoming season. Both Lineberry and Nociti are in their fourth year of playing on varsity and have witnessed firsthand the changes the team has gone through over the years.

“I think having Seese as a coach again will be good for the team,” said Lineberry. “And I can already see the chemistry between all of us on the team, which hasn’t been there in the past few years.”

The Athens Drive women’s varsity team will continue to improve and develop as a team with practices and non-conference games in preparation for the first conference match against Panther Creek March 10.