Kicking in a New Season

Last year was rough for the Milford varsity soccer team. The Mavericks failed to accomplish their lofty goals and finished the season with a losing record. This year, they’re hoping for much better success.

“We’ve rebounded well and we already have more wins than we did last year, and the team has come together and gelled very quickly,” said Head Varsity Coach Tom Hipple.

Although they haven’t had a dominating start to the season, there is a lot of optimism around the team that makes one believe the Mavs will surely finish strong.

 Junior Spencer Beckman is one of those players who is excited about the team’s progress.

“I expect that we should do a little better with an easier schedule and I think we’ll end up near the top of the division,” he said. Currently, the team holds an overall record of 7-4-1, with a conference record of 5-3-1. This puts them in a tie for fourth in the Lakes Valley Conference (LVC), 14 points behind Walled Lake Central.

This is the first year of the LVC after the school left the KLAA after last year. This has made it to where past rival opponents such as Brighton and Hartland are no longer on the schedule while teams like the Walled Lake and South Lyon schools have taken their place. With this new conference, new top dogs have arrived at the top of the conference, such as Walled Lake Central, with Lakeland close behind in second.

Milford expects to reach the top, and soon.

“We won’t lose at home and we’ll compete for the district championship,” said Senior Andrew Hinman. This is a bold response, especially when the team is a fair amount behind in the standings and  dealing with multiple injuries to top players. Those players include Senior and Team Captain Tyler Welch as well as Senior Aram Nadalizadeh.

Despite all of this, Hipple is proud of how the team has handled adversity.

“We’ve handled injuries very well with the ‘next man up’ mentality and someone else has stepped up each game and we’re almost completely healthy now,” said Hipple.

This is true as their goals are being scored by many different people, not just one superstar who scores at will. Many teams would crumble through these injuries, but not this team. This may have something to do with all the support they get from their fans.

You can’t talk about the soccer team without mentioning the “Flop Squad,” which is largely recognized as one of the loudest and biggest student sections in soccer in the state of Michigan.

They infuriate opposing teams and coaches, yet draw tons of praise from our soccer team and Coach Hipple.

“I really love the Flop Squad,” said Hipple. They’re good kids and they come to every game even if it’s cold and they’re really important to our team.”

They certainly know how to make a game fun and you can come see the ‘Flop Squad’ in action as they have just three more home games remaining on their schedule. So come out and support the team and watch as they make their charge up through the standings. The “Flop Squad” surely will.