After multiple games being rained out, the Pride is starting off the pre-season with a two and one record and is preparing for their CAP-8 opener on September 8th vs. Heritage high school.
Paul Dinkenor, longtime head coach of the Leesville men’s soccer team, is ready to tackle this season. Coming off of a loss in the CAP-8 championship last year, this team is more than motivated to win.
With sixteen of the twenty-one players being upperclassmen, Dinkenor is expecting good team leadership this season. The Pride has seven seniors this year that will help to push the team, including Michael Spear and Andrew Little as co-captains.
When asked what the team’s strengths are, he replied, “We have good skill, decent speed, and hopefully good team chemistry. We’re not very big so we need to have all three of those.”
Last year’s season has no relevance to this season in Dinkenor’s eyes. “Hopefully this years team is a team that will bring a lot better soccer and is able to score goals, which was our nemesis last year, while still defending the way we need to,” said Dinkenor. The squad is ready to strive forward after their regular season losing record of 5-12-1 last year.
Currently, Leesville Road is third in the CAP-8 standings, behind Broughton and Sanderson High School. After starting the pre-season off with a 2-1 loss to Apex, the team answered with a 4-0 win against Lee County and a 2-0 win against Panther Creek.
As Dinkenor’s twenty-first season with the Pride, he knows what it will take to improve their run on this go. When asked who is the team’s biggest competition Dinkenor replied, “Every game we are about to play.” With very good competition in the CAP-8, the Leesville Road men’s soccer team is ready and willing to out work every opponent they are about to come across in the upcoming weeks.
For more information on Pride soccer, follow LRHS Pride Soccer on Twitter for updates on match scores and upcoming games.
