One of the more successful programs at Francis Howell North, the girls soccer team’s 2018 campaign is set to kick off in less than one week. From the players to the coaches, there’s excitement flowing through the entire team to not just get the season underway, but to continue adding on to the rich history of the program. This history includes phenomenal records such as the Lady Knights having double-digit wins in every season since 2007, and victories in tournaments ranging from districts to even state.

With such prosperity in recent years, Howell North enters the new season with high expectations. To fulfill these expectations, assistant coach Larry Scheller understands that his team must embrace the Lady Knights’ winning culture.

“Every year we talk about how successful our program has been,” Scheller said. “Kids need to know and take pride in our program so they’re not just playing for themselves but playing for the program and their teammates and the people who have played here in the past.”

While the Lady Knights have experienced much success over the past decade, last year was a slight drop-off for their lofty standards. Howell North went 10-10-1 and made it to the second round of districts, where they were eliminated by their rival Francis Howell Central Spartans. Some of the returning players that played a significant role in the team making it that far include juniors and top scorers Sam Cary (eight goals) and Abbie Miller (seven), as well as sophomore Paige Vanek who netted five goals in her freshman season.

In her first year on the team, Vanek didn’t just earn a spot in the varsity starting eleven but made an immediate impact. Her five goals were the third most on the team, and included one that helped the Lady Knights advance past Pattonville in the opening round of districts. To produce moments of such importance and to do it as a freshman holds great meaning to Vanek, who hopes to do even better in her sophomore year.

“It’s really exciting [to score big goals] knowing that my hard work is paying off to actually get somewhere and proving to myself that I can to do this,” Vanek said. “I hope to score even more goals [this season] and to work with the team as we have a new set of girls this year which has given the team a new dynamic.”

There are many new faces that have given the team a new shape this season, including a trio of freshmen in Julia Kristensen, Courtney Arena, and Brynna Rutherford. With such a large number of newcomers joining the team this early on in the season, most of the upperclassmen are being asked to step into leadership roles on the team. One of these players is junior defender Karen Pete, who is entering her second year on varsity.

“I [plan on stepping into a leadership role] by helping out the other lower-classmen who are on varsity now in drills that they might not completely understand and helping them out with that,” Pete said.

No matter if they’re going into their third year on varsity or their first, each player will be asked to step up and make an impact in their own respective way. The coaching staff’s approach in getting their players to do this by placing importance on every practice and every game has remained constant throughout Scheller’s fourteen years of coaching soccer.

“Just like any other year, you want to approach every single day as a chance to get better,” Scheller said. “That’s the consistency that hopefully we get this year, by preaching responsibility in their [players] position and hope the kids can figure out their responsibility.”

Howell North’s first opportunity to put everything they’ve done in the preseason to the test is on Tuesday, March 20 at St. Charles High. The Lady Knights’ first home and division game, however, isn’t until March 27 against Fort Zumwalt West, a team that Howell North went 1-1 against last season.