CRESTVIEW — Carl Everitt, entering his fifth year as Crestview High School's girls soccer coach, says this will be his best, deepest team yet.
But the Bulldogs, coming off a 5-10 season, will again be in a tough District 1-4A with powers Niceville, Navarre, Pace and Tate.
Still, “We’ve got some new girls,” Everitt said. “Before on the team, we would have five or six (good) players and we would have to fill in with other players. We’ve got a strong 18 players this year.
“We have depth all the way around. We are going to be OK this year. I don’t want to be ringing the bells just yet, but we are going to be OK.”
Everitt said he believes the Bulldogs will be a better defensive team this year. “And if you don’t get scored on, you don’t get beat," he said.
“We also have a couple of little girls that can score goals. That was the problem last year: We could defend OK, but we couldn’t score.”
Kaycee Hamilton, Melea Stokes, Sarah Anne Braswell and Brianna Jones will join veteran defender Brianna Sanchez.
All the players looked comfortable in their defensive roles during the preseason, Everitt said.
When the Bulldogs transition to offense, Emma Medlock, Keleigh Whited, Paige Barboza and Hannah Nolan will be depended on to put the ball in the net.
“I’m excited about this team because it’s a good bunch of players,” Everitt said. “And it’s the first time, hopefully, that Crestview will have a team that can compete the whole season and not just the first half of the game and the season.
“We have some good players. I think they are very excited to play. We have a good attitude, and I think it’s going to be good this year.”
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview coach: Girls soccer team boasts 18 strong players