The Hampton-Dumont-CAL soccer teams will begin their seasons by traveling to Clear Lake for a North Central Conference doubleheader Monday.
Coming off an 0-14 season last year, the Bulldog girls will look to build upon a roster with a fair amount of starting varsity experience. A key building block is expected to be goalkeeper Madison Heilskov, who recorded 765 minutes last season. Head Coach Ben Schlachter on the first week of the season, featuring matches against Clear Lake and Iowa Falls-Alden.
“The first two games right out the chute, we’re going through the gauntlet,” Schlachter says. “Those are kind of the cream of the crop in our conference. This is kind of a measuring stick for us at the beginning of the year. So this will let us know where we’re at. But I tell the girls all the time, that if you want to compete in this conference and want people to notice you, you’re going to have to play teams like that. We don’t have the numbers they have, you’re just going to have to be tougher. We’ve improved against each of those teams over the last two years. If we take another step, hopefully we can run with them this year.”
Clear Lake has the vast majority of its players back from last year’s team that went 7-10.
The Bulldog boys went 8-8 last season, and will need to replace over half of the offensive production. Among returning players, Fernando Mota is the leader in goals with six scored last year. Clear Lake went 10-8 last year, and brings back most of its starters.
The doubleheader will start with the girls game at 5:30 p.m., followed by the boys game.
