First-year Head Coach Dakoda Fickes addresses his team before practice as the Armstrong River Hawks try to turn the program around in 2017.
by Jake DeLuca
The Arsmtrong River Hawks boys varsity soccer team started their mandatory practices this week and are well on their way to preparing for the season and their first scrimmage against West Shamokin.
First year Head Coach Dakoda Fickes is optimistic about this years squad with nine returning players from last years starting eleven.
“I’m pretty excited, we have a good group coming back with nine starters coming back from last year. We have a couple new freshman and some newcomers too. We have a pretty deep group and probably one of the better groups we’ve had in a while, so I’m looking forward to the season,” Fickes said.
Two of the returning starters from last season are Zac Steiner and Brennan Grafton and both of them are ready to lead the way to changing the culture for the River Hawks.
“I’m looking to turn the whole program around. I’d like to see people giving more effort every day. I feel like that’s something we lacked last season and that’s kind of how we ended up with a losing record. I think if we get more people with a positive attitude we can turn things around,” Steiner said.
Grafton added his expectations for the season saying his goal is “getting at least a winning season or making the playoffs, keeping a positive record throughout the season”.
The River Hawks will scrimmage the Wolves at West Shamokin at 3:30 PM on Wednesday, August 23 before playing their first regular season game at home Saturday, September 2 at 10:00 AM.