There are some big shoes waiting to be filled over at Glynn Academy as the Terrors prepare to open their soccer season Friday in Statesboro.
The Glynn girls have been one of the most consistently successful athletic programs in southeast Georgia over the past four years, having compiled a 64-2-4 record that included eight playoff wins and a state championship game appearance.
But the Terrors have since graduated an incredible senior class that heavily contributed to the program’s success, leaving Glynn Academy to reload around a handful of returners.
“We are younger than we have been in several years,” said Glynn girls head coach Thomas Lemmon. “Emme Ross and Lilly Wood are two captains doing well at getting the younger girls accustomed to our ways and what’s expected of them.
“We’re just excited to get out there and see what we can do.”
Glynn Academy is a sparkling 31-0 against Region 2-6A opponents since the 2017-18 campaign, outscoring its region foes 231-12 in that span with only seven matches decided by fewer than three goals.
A group of girls that had played together since kindergarten made up the core of those Terrors’ teams, which included last year’s Region Player of the Year Sally Brock and other all-region honorees Cortlyn Roddini, Megan Hutson, Whitley Barbee, and Madison Brewer.
Although the senior standouts have moved on, there is still plenty of talent in place at Glynn Academy to continue its run this season.
“Our offense is still intact,” Lemmon said. “Obviously losing Sally Brock was big, but Allana (Antah) is still here. Capers Childs is with us as well still. Emme Ross in the midfield with Eliza Meader and Anastasia Barr, those three ran it very well for us last year. Hopefully continue the success running our machine through the midfield.”
Along with significant returning contributors like Antah, Ross, and Meader, the Terrors have been impressed with some of the incoming freshmen to the team. Lemmon identified Izzy Meyer as one player with some tools that stand out.
On the opposite end of the field, Glynn will lean on some older defenders who picked up playing time in the many games the Terrors were able to run away with in recent seasons while the athletic Wood protects the net.
“Any time you can put a player out there that’s got some experience, especially in a playoff game or a big region game, and they get some minutes here and there, it helps with the nerves when they’re called upon to start in that big game or to run that whole game for us,” Lemmon said.
Glynn is still trying to put its pieces together on the fly. The Terrors scrimmaged against Camden, but their opener against Islands scheduled for Tuesday at Lanier Field was cancelled.
Instead, Glynn Academy will see if it can extend its region win streak when it opens its season at 5 p.m. Friday against Stateboro.
“We open up with Statesboro, a region game, which is never good,” Lemmon said with a chuckle. “We like to get at least two or three, possibly four games under our belt before we look at region play to try to iron out kinks and stuff, especially with a new group. We’re going to see what we can do. We’ve got a lot of injuries to start off, so hopefully that’s going to be behind us after next week, and we’ll be up and running.”