Union County Soccer season under way
By TODD FORREST Sentinel writer

The Union County girls kicked off their season last Thursday with a 3-1 win over Pickens County, led by Jessie Payne's two goals. Malory O'Steen added one goal and one assist. Rebecca Burks also added two assists.

"We shot poorly and we should have put more goals on the board," said Coach Hunter. "We had some practices get rained out so we were a little rusty."

On Monday, Union County shutout East Jackson 6-0. O'Steen and Payne each scored two goals each with Payne also picking up two assists. Leslie Bittenbinder scored a goal, Ashton Jones scored a goal on a corner kick, and Erin Grable picked up an assist.

"We played really well against East Jackson. We were able to pull out the starters with about 25 minutes left," said Coach Hunter.

Union County will play at Rabun on Thursday then the JV will play at home on Friday against Fannin County.

This year, just like every year, Coach Hunter is looking to contend for the Region Title. "Our expectations for every season is to compete for the region championship" said Coach Hunter. "Only two teams from the region advance to state play and all region standings are determined by your wins against your region during the regular season."

The Lady Panthers return several key players off last seasons 13-5 squad that should make a huge impact this year says Coach Hunter. "Leslie Bittenbinder was our second leading scorer last year and is a college prospect. She is a very strong midfielder or forward and will look to be a big focus of the offense again this season. Kellie Jean Higgins is a three year starter who returns as an outside midfielder. She has a tremendous amount of speed and has power with either foot. She is expected to get our offense started on the left side of play. Malory O'Steen who started every game as a freshman returns this year as our right forward. Malory has tremendous offensive skills and will be a big focus of the offense. Jenna Sarrell was also a freshman starter last year who returns as our sweeper. Jenna is a very fundamentally sound player and is the last line of our defense. Brittany Balsamo was our goalie last season. She moved in from Colorado and has been an impact player from the moment she stepped on the field. She is also a great field player but is a college prospect at goalie."

Union County will have some strong Senior leadership on this season's squad. "Leslie Bittenbinder, Kellie Jean Higgins, Amanda Mason, Brittany Odom and Kayla Gowder are my seniors," said Coach Hunter. "These girls have been leaders on this team for years as most have been multi-year starters. So far they have been good leaders for this team as have many of our upper classmen. Any one of our seniors are very capable captains and they each provide leadership in different ways. Leslie is the catalyst that really gets us going during games and helps to keep the team pumped up. Kellie, Amanda, and Brittany have always led by example and are always the first girls at off season workouts. Each of them help take care of team business at practice and making sure that the younger players are always where they are supposed to be. Kayla returns to us after not playing as a junior but she has shown a lot of potential at practice and can make big plays due to her athleticism. Each of these girls will serve as captain at some point this season, one of the things that I am proudest about with them is how well they work together to make sure our team is on the right page."

Fannin County will remain in the same Region/Area as Union County and should provide the Lady Panthers with their toughest competition. Although anyone can beat anyone on any given night in this region. "Fannin County has a very strong team and is always counted on to be a tough Region opponent," said Coach Hunter. "Every one we play in the region can beat anyone on any given night, that is why you can't take anyone lightly, if you don't score well and they bunker the defense you can lose any game on penalty kicks. We are concerned about every team in the region but Fannin is one that a little extra emphasis is placed on."

As for non-region games, Union won't be participating in any regular season tournaments. However Union did pick up some solid teams like Lakeview Academy and Lumpkin County. "Those two teams have always been huge rivals for our team and these games always have a playoff atmosphere even though they are non-region," said Coach Hunter. "We also pick up most of the AAA schools in the surrounding area for pick up games."

Coach Hunter is impressed as well as surprised by the depth that his team has shown this season. "We have a lot of players who spent 8 weeks with us this summer practicing and the majority of our varsity played club soccer this fall. This makes our practice very competitive and makes playing time come at a premium. Malory (O'Steen) and Jenna (Sarrell) are some young players that we will count on every game, but this won't be a surprise as they were starters and impact players last season. The rest of the varsity is primarily upper classmen."

However, the key to this team's success will be determined by how healthy they can stay. "Our depth and our ability to put goals on the board. If we stay healthy and keep everything together, we have a good chance to compete for the region," said Coach Hunter. "We will have to have some luck but ultimately I feel that luck often follows the ones who play the hardest. We will win the Region Title if we stay healthy and keep our tradition of success alive. Fortunately we have had a lot of support from many people in our community. Soccer is still a relatively new sport in the area so we don't have a large amount of alumni who have participated in it as opposed to some of our other sports. Our soccer program has been one of the best kept secrets in the mountains. I think once people get involved in watching the program and see just how hard these girls play they can't help but want to support the team. The best thing that can help there is some good weather because often many of our games are played when it is really cold, I mean really cold."

New Coach Mike West has boys soccer team off to a 2-1 start

Coach Mike West takes over as the head boys coach this season after being the girls basketball coach for the past four seasons. He will be taking over a boys soccer team that went to state last year but lost eight starters off that team. When asked what the difference is between coaching boys and girls, Coach West replied with a question of his own, "can you treat them the same or do you have to do somethings differently? They are very different!" Coach West also coached soccer at his old school. "I Coached girls varsity at Newton for three years; I left as the only winning coach in school history and loved every minute of it while I was there. I hope it can be like that here but only time will tell. It's my first year (at Union), so I quite honestly don't know what to expect but a lot of effort and hustle!"

In the Panthers first game they fell 3-0 to Lumpkin County. "Lumpkin is 4-0 and they are a very good team and we just didn't play well," said Coach West. Leland (Sarrell) had some spectacular stops in that game otherwise they would have beaten us a lot worse.

Union picked up their first win of the season in a 6-0 shutout of Pickens County, allowing the Dragons just four shots. Russell Thompson went for a hat trick as he scored three goals. Connor Smith scored two goals and Luis Mancillas added one goal. Despite owning a 4-0 halftime lead, Coach West feels that his team played better in the second half. "I thought we did a better job during the second half. We controlled the game much better and allowed fewer shots. Although we only outscored them 2-0 (as compared to 4-0 in the first half) in the second half, I thought the team played much better."

On Monday, Union County knocked off East Jackson 3-0 while only allowing them three shots. Mancillas led Union with two goals. Both of which came on free kicks. Corbin Carter also added a goal for the Panthers.

"We did a real good job keeping the ball on their end," said Coach West. "We only allowed three shots and probably should have scored five or six or more goals. Jacob Spaulding has done a real good job playing sweeper this year as a freshman. Connor Smith has played very well, Josh Kamber has done well considering that he didn't play last season. Overall they have played really hard and well as a team. I am happy with the direction that we're headed and we should get much better as the season goes along."

The Panthers will be led by six seniors this season. Brett Sczespanski, Jeffrey Mellandorf, Russell Thompson, Luis Mancillas, Matt McCombs, and Michael Driskell. When asked if he had to pick a team captain based in leadership, Coach West said that it would be Mancillas. However his biggest surprise since taking over the team was the lack of fundamentals and touch. "For this team to be successful they are going to have to play together and develop good touch," said Coach West.