Roaring cheers and referee’s whistles fill the Stone Castle as the Lady Viking soccer team competes. With a 10 to 1 to 1 record, Coach Hunter Meade promises to keep the team on top of the leaderboard this season.

This might be Meade’s first year being head coach of the girl’s team, but he is no stranger to soccer. He has played the sport his entire life and stepped into coaching as soon as he graduated college.

Between coaching the girl’s team, the boy’s team, and his own children’s teams, Meade’s love of soccer and coaching keeps him busy. “It’s almost too much at times, but…it works out good,” he said.
Despite the challenge, Meade has taken over coaching the girl’s team with open arms.

“It’s been fantastic, [they’re] a great group of kids,” said Meade. “And you know, right now they’re winning like crazy.”

Not only is this an intimidating change for Meade, but also for the players.

“We miss our old coaches a lot,” said defender Ryleigh Tolbert. “But we still were blessed to have very good new coaches to step in as well.”

With around 40% of the team being seniors, a large portion was surprised to hear that their head coach, Kevin Mooney, and assistant coach Christopher Huber, were stepping down from the role.

Mooney was part of coaching the girl’s soccer team for 25 years. He has spent endless hours of his energy on the team.

“When you have done something for a quarter of a century, it kind of becomes part of your identity,” said Mooney.

The legacy of his coaching not only allowed the players to excel on the field, but also off the field as well.
“Having a coach that believes in you and cares about you as a player as well as a person is very rare, and [Coach Mooney] always made me feel valued on the field,” said Lavinder.

Tolbert took Coach Mooney and Coach Huber’s retirement hard at first.

“When we found out last semester, it was a big shock,” said Tolbert.

Team captain and midfielder Lana Lavinder feels as if having 3 years of her high school career to build a relationship with her coach has made the transition especially difficult.

“I was honestly really scared because I knew it was going to be a big change and change is something that scared me,” said Lavinder.

Despite this initial transition, however, Meade’s trust of his players has allowed them to thrive.

“He has allowed me to take a leadership role as captain, which has helped me grow a lot as a person and learn important lessons,” said Lavinder.

As the team continues to grow together, younger players have easily acclimated to the new team culture.

“I think the environment is super great when we are all together. I really enjoy all the team dinners we have,” said freshman forward Nila Proffitt.

Mooney had known and worked with Meade in the past, so he was already familiar with Meade’s coaching skills and abilities.

“I had a lot of confidence that it would be a seamless transition,” said Mooney.

As a new player to the team, Proffitt has observed this transition.

“Some of the older players [had] to adjust from Mooney to Meade, but it didn’t take them very long at all to get in the swing of things,” said Proffitt.

Meade focuses on possession drills, passing in tight spaces, and making quick decisions during practice, which has built players’ skills this season.

“I hope I’ve stepped in and filled that position well,” said Meade.