By LIZZI CLAYTON, Gazebo Assistant Editor

Soccer season has just started, and boys coach Coach Ian Hayley already has a lot to say.

“We’re on an upward path now…we have a lot of good players in a lot of positions,” he said. “They still have yet to find their way, to put their particular stamp on this year’s group They’ll get there.”

The Eagles have won three of their five games. They beat Rutland 8-0 in a home contest on Tuesday.

“The next couple of weeks are [about] developing the positives we saw out of the tournament this past weekend,” Hayley said. “We’ve never lacked for scoring goals, so I’m expecting that Zane [Holliman] and Custis [Donner] will get their share. We are a little less experienced in the back than in the past. However, we have a senior goalkeeper, (Jacob Lischer) so that enables us to a few mistakes here and there and maybe our goalkeeper is able to make a save and bail us out.”

The girls open the season on Thursday against Deerfield-Windsor.

Coach Kate Blankenship said she has “high hopes, I always do…we have a talented group of players.”

The program lost six seniors last year, all key players. Blankenship said she knows “we have some big shoes to fill,” yet she’s excited about the process.