With the retirement of winningest all-time Lady Viking soccer head coach Kevin Mooney following the 2023-2024 season, the program turned to current boy’s head coach Hunter Meade to take the reins of the girl’s program.

Neither coach is a stranger to success, but Coach Meade was undoubtedly going to have historically big shoes to fill.

In his first season as head coach, many would say Meade exceeded expectations, leading the Lady Vikings to the team’s first state final four berth in program history.

The team rallied behind a group of seniors who had played under Coach Mooney for the entirety of their high school careers and dominated almost every regular season opponent, with 5-0, 6-0, and even 9-0 mercy rule results becoming routine.

Notably, two now-collegiate soccer players, Aryana Patterson and Lana Lavinder, led the charge.

Patterson, who is now attending and playing Division I college soccer at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, was the Lady Vikings go-to player in 2024. Patterson set the school record for single season goals with an absurd 58 goals. She also tacked on 16 assists for the season.

Lavinder is now attending and playing Division II college soccer at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. The other half of the senior duo, Lavinder set a school record of her own with 35 assists on the season, most all-time in a single season. Lavinder added 11 goals of her own as well.

Kadyn Kemmerer also scored 19

goals and recorded 12 assists in 2024 as a freshman, and then-sophomore goalkeeper Mariah Skeens cemented herself as second all-time in goals allowed per game and tied a school record for the most clean sheets in a single season with 11.

With a team like that, the pressure was on to succeed. When all was said and done, the girls made a run to the final four of the AA state tournament for the first time in program history where they fell to Station Camp in the semi-finals by a score of 2-0.

This year, the team will look to make a third straight state tournament appearance and fourth in team history.

Coach Meade will turn towards some of those key returning contributors, like Skeens and Kemmerer, again this year.

The girls will see an uptick in conference competition this year, facing off against Dobyns-Bennett and Science Hill twice a year, and things are already looking different for his go-to goalkeeper, who shut out 11 teams last season.

“Mariah’s done fantastic, even though we haven’t had the same results. She’s also been tested a lot more this year and has done really well. There were a lot of games last year [where] she barely [faced a shot].” Meade said of Skeens.

Skeens’ continued success hasn’t come easily though.

Taurean “T” Bizzell, both the boy’s and girl’s goalkeeper coach, stepped down at the beginning of the season.

With only Meade and one assistant coach remaining on the staff, the goalkeeper of the boy’s team, Emilio “Milo” Ochoa volunteered to help out Skeens and the rest of the goalkeepers at practices and games.

“But Milo, volunteering to come in and help with them, has been big because I don’t have much experience in the goalkeeping position.” Meade said.

Ochoa, a successful keeper in his own right, offered up his time to help the girl’s goalkeepers out with drills and tidbits of information he has accumulated over his career.

“The goalkeeper coach [Bizzell] had other things going on and Mariah was kind of just left with nobody and I thought she needed somebody with experience to help her.” Ochoa said.

Coach Meade is already seeing a huge impact with his first-choice keeper. “I think that’s something Milo’s helped with is, you know, her confidence of when she should step out for those through balls and when she should stay in her box and kind of just cover space.” Meade said.

Meade admits his knowledge of coaching up goalkeepers is limited, but recognizes the difficulty and significance of the position and having a reliable goalkeeper.

“It’s hard as a keeper because it’s usually one-on-one when you’re in those chances and you don’t want to make the wrong decision, but at the same time, you don’t want to be questioning what you do either.” Meade said.

Meade is noticing obvious strides in her confidence and decisiveness, and is glad to have someone as reliable as Skeens between the posts.

“But yeah, she’s done great. I mean, without her, we’d be in a world of hurt.” Meade said.

On the attacking side of the ball, sophomore Kadyn Kemmerer and freshman Vivie Murphy are looking like early go-to players offensively.

Kemmerer, who of course had a massive freshman season, struggled with a nagging ankle injury early on in the season, but is back to 100% approaching the postseason.

While her impact on the stat sheet isn’t as substantial so far this season, her ability to become involved in the attack goes beyond goals and assists.

Coach Meade was quick to praise Kemmerer’s, as well as fellow winger Carlie Harmon’s speed up the sidelines.

“Speed wise, Carlie and Kadyn both, if we can learn to utilize that more frequently, we’re going to wear teams down.” Meade said.

Tactically, Meade believes the team can find a lot of success from playing balls in behind the defense and letting his athletic wingers chase down the through balls to the corner flags.

Kemmerer herself noted her speed on the attack as a huge part of her game as well, but also touched on her defensive role as a winger having to track back and help out in transition.

“Yeah, through balls is a big part, but like also since the wingers have to go all the way up and all the way down the field, it’s just really convenient with my speed.” Kemmerer said.

The team’s main goalscorer so far this year has been freshman Genevieve “Vivie” Murphy, who is also the cousin of former Lady Viking record-breaker Lana Lavinder.

Murphy has led the charge on the attack having several multi-goal games, and in her high school soccer debut, in a scrimmage against Elizabethton, Murphy burst onto the scene with a hat trick.

While Murphy is already proving herself as a high-volume goalscorer and chance creator from the central-midfield position, one of her favorite parts of the game is her freedom to move around in space, not just scoring goals.

“I enjoy just being able to move around and feel like I can take space and then find a pass and then move into new space, because I feel like in the middle there’s a lot of space to move around.” Murphy said.

Now looking defensively, sophomore defender Jenna Latham hasn’t had the easiest job this season, anchoring a defensive line who has faced great attacking play so far this season.

Namely, conference opponents Science Hill and Dobyns-Bennett, and Smoky Mountain Cup opponents Rock Vale and Knox West, who are currently ranked 14th in the nation for the fall season by MaxPreps, have given the Lady Vikings some trouble.

Facing competition like that, and dropping some goals can get into your head as a defender, but Latham is keeping her spirits high and keeps looking ahead.

“[You] just have to keep relying on your teammates, keep trusting the work that you’ve put in, and just have fun.” Latham said.

Latham also praises the togetherness and leadership on the team, highlighting Sophia Streetman as a key leader on the team.

“I really look up to Sophia and Sydney and Gracen. I think they’re great leaders and all of our seniors really just really step up.” Latham said.

Latham wasn’t the only one to note Streetman. Coach Meade, Jenna Latham, Kadyn Kemmerer, and Vivie Murphy all specifically highlighted Streetman as a strong leader and key figure on the team.

Five seniors were chosen as captains: Gracen Clark, Sydney Clark, Lucy Millwood, Riley Leonard and of course Sophia Streetman.

“All five of them, if somebody’s not doing what they’re supposed to, they very nicely tell them to come on or, when we’re doing drills, they’re always the hardest working in the drills.” Meade said.

“We did voting and she [Streetman] got the most votes and everybody else was kind of spread about the same.” Meade said.

Streetman has taken on the role of the “main” captain. Sophia’s unmoving kindness and passion has developed a community of unity, not only for new members, but also for the progressing seniors.

“She’s kind of our go-to captain for games and stuff,” Meade said.

While Streetman has taken on the “go-to” role, all five captains are integral to Coach Meade’s system, such as Millwood guiding the JV team to success and Leonard moving into a more dynamic role in the squad this year.

I’ve been really impressed with all the girls, even some of the seniors that returned,” Meade said. “Like Riley Leonard stepping up and having a lot bigger role this year.”

Leonard has moved into a fluid role this year, playing mostly full back, but rotating up into the attack often.

“The girls just in general, they motivate each other.” Meade said. “I try my best to stay positive with them and pick out all the good stuff that I can without being negative about everything.”

Overall, according to players and coaches alike, the team is prepared for another year of success and has just as big aspirations as any other year, even after graduating two players who etched their names in program history.

Meade is fully confident his team can get hot at the right time and pull off another deep run into the postseason, even when some people may not expect it.

“I think [with] that close of a group that we can all surprise each other at any given time.”