Lady Tigers Gearing Up for Soccer Season
By Chris Tramel
The DeKalb County Lady Tigers Soccer team has been on the field, getting ready for the fast approaching start of the 2020 season. As with other sports, the team is having to deal with Covid-19 precautions and restrictions, but the players and the coach say they are ready to play.
"We started with conditioning and basic drill training, with no contact, back in June," Head Coach Dylan Kleparek told the Smithville Review. "We worked for a few weeks, then hit our dead period, then came back and continued with the same thing. Now, we're allowed to go to contact practice, so hopefully we'll get that fired up."
Our first game is August 17th. It's coming up pretty quick so we've only got a couple of weeks. We've got Cumberland County first, which is a big district match for us. So, we've got to get ready quickly.
As of right now we're starting on schedule, because the governor signed his executive order. We're not going to get any preseason games. They're not allowing that, so we're just going to have to scrimmage at practice the best we can.
Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed Executive Order No. 55 last week, making contact during practice now permissible in the sports of football and girls' soccer. Other fall sports, including golf, cross country, and volleyball were not affected by the State of Emergency Order that prohibited contact sports.
The TSSAA laid out a set of regulations and suggested rules for practices and for attending games, and Coach K said that his team has been vigilant. "Every day we have temperature checks, we ask the Covid-19 questions, we're tracking where people are going, and if anybody's sick in any way they're not coming to practice. If anyone comes in contact with someone that has tested positive, then we have a 14-day quarantine for that player."
He continued, "We also have several different restrictions at games, which are listed through TSSAA that we have to follow. There's going to be a lot of restrictions, a lot of hoops to jump through, but if it keeps people safe I'm all for it. I think as long as these girls get to play, I'm willing to do whatever I need to do."
As far as this year's team goes Coach K said his players have a lot of experience, even the younger players. "We have a pretty strong team," Coach K said. "We've got a lot of experienced players coming back from last season. We're still pretty young. We played a lot of young players last year. We're definitely going to miss our seniors from last year, we had some real good leaders, but we've got some great leaders this year as well."
Coach K said that the team has some big goals this season, goals that hopefully will see them in the championship. "We're trying to break out of that middle of the pack. We've been in the middle of the pack for the last few years, so we're trying to get in that upper two that move on from the district, so that's our goal this year, to be in that district championship."
"We have five seniors this year," he continued. "But, we have some great young players. Our middle school team has done a great job of sending us players that are ready to play.
The Lady Tigers first game is scheduled for Monday, August 17, at 6:30 PM, at Cumberland County. The team's first home game is scheduled for Tuesday, September 1, at 5:00 PM against Livingston.
2020 Lady Tigers Soccer Schedule
Mon. Aug. 17 Cumberland County* 6:30 Away
Tues. Sept. 1 Livingston* 5:00 Home
Thurs. Sept. 3 Upperman* 6:00 Away
Tues. Sept. 8 Cumberland County* 5:00 Home
Thurs. Sept. 10 Cannon County 6:00 Away
Tues. Sept 15 Stone Memorial* 6:00 Away
Thurs. Sept. 17 Upperman* 5:00 Home
Tues. Sept. 22 Livingston* 6:30 Away
Thurs. Sept. 24 Cookeville 5:00 Home
Tues. Sept 29 Stone Memorial* 5:00 Home
Tues. Oct. 6 Wilson Central 6:30 Away
Thurs. Oct. 8 White County (Senior Night) 5:00 Home
* District Match
Postseason
Mon. Oct. 12 4th vs. 5th Play-in TBA
Tues. Oct. 13 District Semifinals DeKalb
Thurs. Oct. 15 District Championship DeKalb
Tues. Oct. 20 Region Semifinals TBA
All scheduled dates and times are subject to change
2020 Lady Tigers Soccer Roster
# NAME GRADE
1 Sadie Driver 12
2 Emily Satterfield 9
3 Laila Clark 9
4 Christina Howard 11
5 Alexa Hernandez 9
6 Daisy Hernandez 12
7 Audrey Gillenwater 12
8 Raven Savage 10
9 Sophia Angeletti 11
10 Diana Ramirez 11
11 Allie Wilbur 11
12 Carley Vance 12
13 Darrah Ramsey 10
14 Avery Valdez 12
15 Rainey Tiner 11
16 Kendall Davis 9
18 Ariel Patterson 11
19 Maggy Godinez 9
20 Ailish Munoz 10
21 Cristal Ramos 10
22 Juana Godinez 10
23 Cassandra Garcia 10
24 Kelbi Young 10
25 Caroline Tobitt 9
26 Jacklyn Kleparek 10
Coaches:
Dylan Kleparek
LaTonya Kleparek
Managers:
Josef Osment
Liam Wallace
Jasper Kleparek
