As the new semester begins, so do new Wakeland sports. Wakeland soccer begins district games as Wakeland softball trains for the upcoming season. Let’s take a look at what each of these looks like and how students balance their athletic and academic careers.

“It can definitely be hard to balance school while in season because we’re missing so many classes and sometimes school gets put on the back burner as I’m mostly focusing on our upcoming soccer game,” sophomore Avery Winston said.

Winston is a goalie on the girls’ varsity soccer team. She is very excited about the team this year and that their season is finally starting. 

“We lost in round three of the playoffs to Reedy last year, so them being our first district game definitely motivates us to perform and it makes it very meaningful,” Winston said.

The Lady Wolverines have their eye on one prize: the state championship. After the girls and boys won state in 2022, they search for redemption from last year, and the first step is beating Reedy.

“I think we’re going to do really well this year, I’m really excited,” Winston said. “The team is really fun and we’ve done pretty well in our preseason scrimmages this year.”

Friend and teammate sophomore Sophie Altieri is at the same place mentally as her teammate.

“The team is really fun in general, but it’s especially more fun when we’re winning, so I really hope we make it far this year,” Altieri said.

The team ended up victorious, beating Reedy 2-0 and starting their games off right. Eyes set on state, girls soccer is determined to have a good season. 

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Meanwhile, the Wakeland softball team gears up for their preseason, which began last Saturday against Memorial High School and ended in a 5-4 win for the Wolverines.

“Balancing school and softball is definitely a lot since they both require so much but I have learned to lean on my teammates and do the best that I can,” sophomore Reese Thomas said.

Thomas is a member of the varsity softball team and looks forward to getting into the busy swing of things once softball season arrives. 

“We have a great team this year and we have really used this offseason to grow and learn how to be better teammates and play together with one goal,” Thomas said.

The softball team has big goals this year after a highly successful 2023 spring season.

“This season our team feels different. We are very close this year and have learned a lot about coming together and leaning on each other and I really think that you will be able to see that difference on the field,” junior Claire Schreiner said.