The ReSporter:You stated last season about how your team would need to improve their

offensive skills…was that part of your game a success? And what will be your major goals as you look into next season?

Coach Gallagher: “I thought we hit better as a team this season .280 compared to .212 last season. We had one player (Beseda) over 400 and three over 300 where as last year we had only one over 300. We scored 156 runs compared to 127 in 2012 so I’m happy with our production this season. We also added more speed to the lineup and that will help us next season. Our major goals next year will be (1) to fill three infield and one outfield positions that were vacated by our seniors. Defensive continuity will be key to building a strong unit. (2) to improve our overall knowledge of the game. (3) get more consistentcy from our offensive short game-bunt, slap, base-running etc. (4) build on the confidence gained from this season and  take it to the next level. (5) be more dominate on the mound by limiting walks. (6) Find a way to finish. We had several games with one bad inning. Without those we win a few more games.”

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The ReSporter: Coach Katie McWhorter has just completed her first year as Canyon Lake’s Girls Soccer and we would first like to congratulate you and your team for making the playoffs this season.

Give us your overall assessment of this season?

Coach McWhorter: “I am very proud of this season. My girls worked very hard, and despite some inexperience on the team and many injuries, we managed to come in third place in our district and make it to playoffs.”

The ReSporter: With so many players on your squad, tell us how this might be a great building block for future campaigns.

Coach McWhorter: “This season was my first at Canyon Lake, and I am definitely hoping that this season is the beginning of something special for Canyon Lake soccer. It will be hard losing our seniors, but I am looking forward to seeing the new crop of talent from the middle school, and also seeing my current girls develop into stronger, more skilled players.”

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The ReSporter: Your first year as a Head Coach, what would you do differently as you prepare for next year?

Coach Chapman: “I don’t know if we will do a whole lot differently going forward. I would like to think that if we continue to just do the same things and just continue the process then the results will get better. We will always emphasize the fundamentals like shooting, passing and ball-handling and work on those things day in and day out. Strategically we will do some different stuff such as picking up the pressure on defense, but we are not going to stray too far from what we have started.”

The ReSporter: What is your overall assessment of this year’s team and season?

Coach Chapman: “Although the record and results may not indicate it, I thought we did some really good things this year. Most of all I am proud about how we played and how we conducted ourselves. We played the game the right way, acted right and represented Canyon Lake the right way. We had a really good stretch of games in December where we played at a high level. We also set some individual records for the program, and we finally won a district game. I think what we did this year was lay the foundation for the future and with the program where it is now, that’s what we needed.”

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Track Season will open today in Blanco Stadium at 3:30pm.

Canyon Lake has been more consistent and competitive in Track than any other sport.

The Hawks have finished 2nd in District Meet the last two seasons and will be wanting to continue that trend as this season gets into the starting blocks.

Track season cannot be mentioned without mentioning Senior Jordan Anderson who can many times be worth 40-50 points per meet.

This young man scored 48 points in last year’s District Track Meet and will look to continue to be that athlete trying to best previous marks.

To put this in a different motif, Anderson scored 48 points and Bandera had 42 in last year’s District 27-3A Track Meet.

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The ReSporter: You have been playing some teams that are two classes larger than CL. What are you wanting the girls to take from games like this as you prepare for District?

Coach McWhorter: “Our preseason schedule has no doubt been rigorous and jam-packed. As we prepare for district and play these games, I think that the team should get a better understanding of what we are going to be up against. Although our district has changed since last year, we are going to be up against some competitive teams who come from larger school districts. We need to get a feel of what teams like that are like in the preseason.”

The ReSporter: How many teams in district will qualify for the Playoffs?

Coach McWhorter: “The top four teams in our district will qualify for playoffs this year.”

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The ReSporter:What are your thoughts entering this

season?

Coach John Gallagher: “Excited and optimistic about starting a new year. First goal met; starting a Junior Varsity team.”

The ReSporter: How has your practices been going?

Coach John Gallagher: “Practices going well. With the great weather we have been able to maximize our time and stay on schedule. We have 22 young ladies out and they have been working hard to learn the system. The big surprise is we have a few girls with above average speed/quickness.”

The ReSporter: How will you insert the basketball players when they arrive?

Coach John Gallagher: “With the arrival of a few basketball players we are now putting them through a tryout process and trying to solidify our varsity positions and put in our offense/defense.”

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Coaches Corner with Soccer Coach, Katie McWhorter.

The ReSporter: Canyon Lake did not lose a lot of Seniors, how young is your team and who will be some athletes you hope to carry your squad?

Coach McWhorter: “Although we didn’t lose many seniors last year, we only have two this year, so our team is a very young team. We are working hard at becoming a more aggressive and explosive team in the hopes that we will be one of the top contenders in our district for playoffs.”

The ReSporter: You have another year of facing schools that are much larger than the Hawks, how will that translate with how the team will approach this season?

Coach McWhorter: “While we are facing schools that are much larger than us, our team has a lot of skill and fight in them. We participated in three tournaments preseason, and most of the teams we played were from much larger schools with excellent soccer teams – some of them were even 5A schools. We held our own and did a really good job in our play.”
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The ReSporter: You seemed really excited after the end of last season having several athletes with another year of experience. Is that still a sense of expectations as you prepare for this Track Season?

Coach Lambert: “Yes it is. We had a very strong young team last year and we are looking forward to having them back this season. We have some upper classman that are showing great enthusiasm for this season and are lookig to spread that enthusiasm with the entire team once we have everyone there together.”

The ReSporter: You have had two girls advance to State in each of the last two seasons. How does that help in motivation for this year’s squad, especially since Marisa is returning this season?

Coach Lambert: “It really shows the other girls how hard you have to work to make it to the state meet, but it also shows them that they too have a chance to make it to state so they are willing to put the work in to be the best.”

The ReSporter: You have some speed with several Ninth graders last season that finished second in District in the 4×100 and 4×200. How many of these athletes will make a jump to Varsity?
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The ReSporter: Coach Dunavant, tell us what your

thoughts on that new district schedule where you played each team three times last season.

Coach Dunavant: “The teams that deserved to play in the playoffs got into the playoffs which many times might not be the case when you play twice with several games between contests. You have a chance of getting your opponents ace pitcher in both of those contests where other teams could have a pitcher that would be not as good.
This system gives you a chance to play a team and face more pitchers that can translate into a better chance of winning if you are better. All those better teams got in.”

The ReSporter: Tell us what your thoughts on how this group of players are doing in preparation for the upcoming season.

Coach Dunavant: “Yesterday I went down to the field and saw players knocking the ball around and playing the infield. We might have more infield depth than we have had in several seasons, which might help us in the outfield.”

“I feel pretty good with that depth and maturity, everyone out there has been on the varsity and all those lumps they have endured the past two years will payoff this year.”

“Now it is time to reap the reward and put into motion their game on the field. This is not a rebuilding year, this is a producing year.”

The ReSporter: When does improvement increase the most for players, Freshman to Sophomores, Sophomores to Juniors, etc…?

Coach Dunavant: “I don’t think their improvement happens based on what grade they might be in, they improve because they are guys that want to compete and be out there for something more. Many of our Seniors are wanting to play in college, so they’re going to be more intense their senior year than another player that might be wanting to play out that last game of the season.”
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The ReSporter: How are the players going into their game with Wimberley?

Coach Chapman: “The guys are in good spirits. The good thing about high school kids is that they are resilient and they forget things real quick. They’ve done a good job of staying positive and looking ahead. They are excited about starting district, and they have confidence and a belief that we are going to be successful.”

The ReSporter: What are you looking for ratio wise with your Assists to Turnovers game wise?

Coach Chapman: “In an ideal world we would like have a 2 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, but more realistically, any time we can have more assists than turnovers we are doing good things.”

The ReSporter: What would be your number of Three Point shots per game? Yes, I know if they are making them, then as many as possible, but I’m thinking anything over 30% would be doable, based on a chance of getting more offensive rebounds off of shots from that far out.

Coach Chapman: “As a team we are not really concerned about the amount of 3’s we take. We are much more concerned about what kind of 3’s we take. If we are getting the ball inside and then kicking out for wide open 3’s then we will take those every time. We also like to take wide-open transition 3’s. The problem we run into at times, is that we take contested 3’s, which usually don’t go in and lead to empty possessions. When you shoot a 3 just for the sake of shooting it, then you run into a low shooting percentage.”
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