The Lady Jags varsity soccer season is quickly approaching with the first game scheduled Tuesday, January 8th, against Plano West.

The varsity team hopes to go beyond the regional quarterfinals, which they lost last year.

“Personally, I want to be one of the top-scorers, but our most important goal as a team is to go to state,” junior Gabi D’Alessandro said.

This season’s varsity captains are seniors Jessica Broadbent, Megan Crafton, and Alexandra “AV” Vigil, and juniors Gabi D’Alessandro and Sydney Rapp. Captains ensure that everyone is at practice on time, that warm-ups start before the coach is on the field, and that practice runs smoothly.

“Being a captain is a lot of responsibility, and a lot of pressure is put on me, but it only pushes me to make my team stronger,” D’Alessandro said.

Only two freshmen made the varsity team this season: defender Megan Heckendorn and midfielder Christan Perkins.

“Making varsity as a freshman is very a big accomplishment because very few players will get the chance to play with varsity, let alone make the team,” Heckendorn said. “This was definitely one of my all time goals.”

To help the team become more of a family, the players are put into pairs of one ‘big sister’ and one ‘little sister’. The girls must participate in 10 bonding activities together. Some of the activities include going to an FMHS sporting event, making a motivational poster for the soccer locker room, crafting crazy Christmas shirts, or decorating a sister’s locker.

“With a little sis’ I get a chance to interact with someone from the other teams, because we truly don’t get the chance to do so in practice,” senior Megan Crafton said. “The activity I’m looking forward to most is making tacky Christmas sweaters.”

Team members hope the team building will help them come together and have a very successful season.