GALION – Last season, Galion started the process of building a foundation for a new sport, which comes with some challenges.

“It’s building the structure from underneath, so you need to have experienced players before they get into the varsity level and we’re starting to have that and that’s a great thing,” Galion boys coach John Stewart said. “Trying to figure everything out is a challenge, but thankfully the Galion administration has been 100 percent behind his endeavor. I feel like we have the support of everybody from the superintendent to the athletic director and everybody in between.

“Honestly, I couldn’t ask for a better experience as a second-year coach.”

Stewart and girls coach Eric Palmer are in their second year with the program and having a group of players with at least one year of experience will only benefit the teams moving forward.

“Our part-time goalie this year made first team all-conference last year,” Stewart said. “The guys have one more year of maturity and experience. Couple that with some new guys that are athletic upperclassmen and have decided to join the team and play in their first year. We have three freshmen that have previous experience and I expect them to contribute right away.

“We’re in a better spot than we were in first thing last year and I’m looking forward to some good things.”

Stephen Thompson, one of Stewart’s part-time goalkeepers, was named first team All-MOAC as a freshman and also excels in the field. Similar to Thompson, transfer Quinn Boland plies his trade between the sticks, but also has talent out in the field, so Stewart has viable options when it comes to picking a No. 1.

“We’re going to time share those two in the goal and on the field,” Stewart said. “As far as upperclassmen go, Sam Rigdon is a guy that just joined the team, but I look for good things out of him.”

As for the three talented freshman Stewart mentioned, Devin McCarthy, Jason Guthridge and Hunter Parsley are expected to contribute early on in the season.

The goal this year for the boys is simple — improve on last season’s 1-12 mark.

“We grew a lot as a team because a lot of guys had never played soccer before in their life,” Stewart said. “We were much more competitive at the end of the season than we were in the beginning of the season. I’d like to be competitive in the games we got blown out in last year and squeak our wins in the games against teams where we probably could’ve won last year.

“I’m looking for a little bit of growth and a little bit of improvement from the team as a whole.”

The Tigers open their season on Wednesday hosting Highland at 6:30 p.m. after the girls play before them.

Lady Tigers want to surprise foes

For Palmer, being in charge of a program as young as Galion’s is something he admits he enjoys.

“There’s a lot for them to still learn and pick up and we’re getting better and better every day,” Palmer said. “Every day you can see progress and improvement.

“Sometimes I think it’s hard for the girls to remember that and they’re as competitive as I am; they want to have success right away and sometimes we forget that we’re still so young and we still have a lot to learn.”

Most of his team is comprised of second-year players to the sport in general, as well as a few girls who have played before. The majority of his team, though, are freshmen and sophomore.

Allison DeNero, a senior, is someone Palmer expects to thrive this season coming off her honorable mention All-MOAC honors last season. He also boasts a pair of sophomore captains in Katie McDonald and Kate Wildenthaler who should, as a collective trio, lead the team on and off the field.

“The goal this year is to come out and surprise a couple teams,” Palmer said. “The girls have been working really hard this offseason, they’ve put their head down and worked to improve and catch up to the team’s that have played a while.

“We’re looking to hopefully make our mark and let the conference and the district know that Galion girls soccer is going to be a thing and it’s going to be something for everyone else to look out for.”

The Lady Tigers can start the season strong with an impressive performance against Tiffin Columbian on the road Saturday at noon.

zholden@gannett.com

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Twitter: @Zachary_Holden