Andrews
The Wildcats soccer team is one of a few coed soccer teams in the Smoky Mountain Conference. They will look to improve on last season’s sixth-place finish in the conference with a record of 5-8-1.
Like last season, they will play a schedule of only conference matches. They kick off their season Monday, Sept. 9, with a trip to take on Highlands, the reigning conference boys soccer champions. On Wednesday, Sept. 11, they return to Cherokee County to take on Tri-County Early College, who they beat in both games last season.
Andrews beat every team in the conference at least once last year, except Highlands and Hayesville. They did have a tie with Hayesville late in the season.
This season, they will take on their Cherokee County rivals Murphy on Wednesday, Oct. 2, in Murphy and Monday, Oct. 28, in Andrews. They will face Tri-County on Sept. 11 in Murphy and again Wednesday, Oct. 9 in Andrews.
Murphy
Andrew Zenobi, head coach for the Murphy varsity soccer team, outlined the Bulldogs’ goals for the season, who will stand out and how they are preparing for their first game.
Zenobi said the team’s main goal for the season is to win the conference championship, as they did not lose many seniors and gained players from the middle school program. He added that one of their other goals is to maintain possession longer.
To achieve those goals, they will work with different formations and work on close quarters passing. Building on last season, they will look to maintain team chemistry.
“I’ve been a part of a lot of teams, and I’ve never seen one that was so close-knit like this team is, and I would like to build on that,” Zenobi said.
He said that Tyler Payne, Abram Twiggs, Elijah Twiggs, Cale Harger, Jerry Bui and Jayden Rivera will stand out this season. Payne was the team’s leading goal scorer last season, while Zenobi said Harger is the best goalkeeper in the conference. Rivera is going to be “a menace to teams” for his goal-scoring ability.
Zenobi said he is looking forward to playing Highlands; if the Bulldogs can beat the Highlanders, then they can win the conference. He added that he is excited to play Tri-County because he has coached a lot of the players on that team, and other teams should not overlook them this season.
To prepare for their first game of the season against non-conference opponent Madison on Thursday, they have been working on conditioning and first touches with passing. Zenobi said they will focus on the minute details as the season progresses, and hopefully the non-conference games will show them what they need to improve on.
To kick off their season, they have a six-game run of non-conference matches against Madison, Pisgah, Smoky Mountain, Tuscola and two games against Summit Charter. After those games, they will play Smoky Mountain Conference opponents for the rest of the season.
Murphy plays Cherokee County rival Tri-County on Wednesday, Sept. 25, and Wednesday, Oct. 23. The two teams share a field, so both games will be played in Murphy.
Tri-County
The Tri-County Early College boys soccer team kicked off their 2024 season with a loss against 3A opponent East Lincoln High School as they traveled to Denver, N.C., on Monday.
The Cherokee Scout spoke with head coach Chris Blanton prior to their season kicking off. Their main goal for this season is just to win, he said, as the boys soccer team has not won a game, but came close with a tie last season.
“They went from getting blown out a lot in the first season of boys soccer to last year being competitive and going to overtime five times,” Blanton said. “Next step of the progression is to win, and I expect to win a bunch this year.
“I mean, this is our time. This is the best team that TCEC has had. And with all the other teams taking a step back with the loss of seniors, this is our time to have a terrific season.”
Blanton said to achieve the main goal of winning, one of the big things they have been working on is passing and getting more scoring chances.
He also mentioned senior captain Landen Spies and defender William Boyd, who was All-Conference last season, as players who will stand out this year. He has a goal for Boyd to be Player of the Year in the Smoky Mountain Conference this season.
He was looking forward to the match against East Lincoln because it is a homecoming for him and son Hayden, who is on the Tri-County team this season. Blanton is also excited for their two games against Murphy, comparing their matchup to the notorious Duke and University of North Carolina rivalry.
This season, the Early College boys soccer team kicks off their schedule with a slate of non-conference games against East Lincoln, Polk County, Tenn., and Summit Charter. Then they will head to Cherokee to take on the Braves, the team they tied with last season, to open conference play.
They round out their schedule with conference play with another match against Summit Charter later in the season. Their next game is Thursday, Sept. 22, when they head to Polk County for their second non-conference game of the season.