Season Preview: Milan Soccer Team Plans to Kick It Up a Notch

The Milan Big Reds girls’ soccer team brings back some familiar faces to go along with some new ones. They look to play tough in their league and compete for a league title and advance through the district tournament. Their charge will be led by the new head coach, Simon Evans.

“I think they’ll be a strong group. There are a lot of strong underclassmen coming up and a lot of strong juniors and seniors. We have some strong players up top, Emily Harris and Courtney Backus. We have a strong midfield in Kelly Copeland and Lauren Eisen. Our defense will be a little younger, but I know there are some good players there. We have a high-level goalkeeper in Erin Jinna,” said Evans.

The Big Reds will look to improve on a mediocre 2009-2010 season that saw them ousted in the opening round of the district tournament with a 3-0 loss to Ann Arbor Skyline. Milan finished 4-6-1 in the Huron League.

Dreary conditions could not keep the team indoors for practice on a rainy Monday. They were out on the field working on dribbling and defensive drills with Evans demonstrating and encouraging among his team.

They open their season at Ypsilanti on March 28 and their home opener is April 30 against Jefferson. They travel out to Kalamazoo on April 23 for a mid-season tournament at Loy Norrix High School.