By Andres Reyes

Sports Editor

It’s time for cleats, fresh-cut grass and goals.

The Lady Bears soccer team will have tryouts beginning 2 p.m.  April 7 at Brookhaven College. Any student enrolled in at least 12 credit hours can try out, and the first game will be played Aug. 30.

Coach John Antonisse is new to the position and said he is excited to get the season started. He has lived in Dallas for the majority of his life and said he has played soccer for both J.J. Pearce High School and the University of Tulsa.

The most enjoyable experiences in his 20 years of coaching are game days and the lasting friendships with players and coaches, he said. “I love competition and the challenges,” Antonisse said. “It’s always really fun, and I really enjoy that.”

Antonisse said he is recruiting high school seniors for the team and has had women come up and ask about the team. With no current roster, his expectation for the tryouts and season are to “field as competitive a team as we can,” but more importantly, for “the players to have a lot of fun and to really enjoy the process,” he said. “

I’m excited about putting the team together and tell them to come out on April 7 at 2 p.m. on the main soccer field,” Antonisse said.

Roberta Aguilar, former player for the Lady Bears soccer team, was excited to hear the program was coming back. “

Playing college sports, especially at the community level, prepares you and creates a path for university soccer,” Aguilar said. “Leadership, responsibility, organization, good sportsmanship, and dedication were all instilled” as a result of Brookhaven soccer, Aguilar said.

One advantage Aguilar pointed out was that playing on the team opens up opportunities for scholarships to bigger schools. Aguilar will play soccer for North Lake College next fall and move up to play for Texas Woman’s University next spring.

The Lady Bears soccer team has not played since the 2012 season when the team was 13-4 overall, 5-3 in conference and had an incredible seven- game winning streak.