Meyer recruits players to fill weak spots on women’s soccer

By Laura Smith

With their first season of NCAA play under their belts, the Flagler women’s soccer team has now set their sights on next season.

Playing a young team last year made crossing the bridge between NCAA and NAIA play even more difficult than it already would have been.

“We played very mature teams last year. We were playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” coach Teddy Meyer said. “Other teams never saw a freshmen or sophomore on the field.”

Next season the Saints will be focusing on speed and attacking, recruiting mostly forwards and midfielders to round out the team’s level of play.

“Last year we either had to sacrifice technical ability for speed, or speed for technical ability,” Meyer said. “With the new recruits this will no longer be the case. Next year we are going to be two or three players deep in every position.”

Meyer has six girls already committed to the team including Samantha Winokur of Lake Brantley High School in Florida. He is looking to add seven or eight girls to the Lady Saints final roster.

The schedule for next season is already set. The Saints will play against some of the same teams they did last season while others are new.

The team will be playing nine NCAA teams including seven Sunshine State teams.

The team will also travel more playing a few games in North Carolina. Much like the men’s and women’s basketball teams did this year, the Saints will be playing in a tournament with other NCAA provisional teams.

“The team’s goal is to be one of the top five teams in our NCAA division,” Meyer said. “We want to show them that Flagler’s program is one of the best. The girls on the team know that. This is something that we want and are working towards together. I believe that with the team already established, along with the girls we will bring in the next couple of years, we will achieve this goal.”