HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team, under fourth-year head coach Chris McBride, began preparations for the 2020 season Tuesday morning with the first of two practice sessions.
 
During the morning session, the Lady Lions showed energy and enthusiasm as they were graded by McBride and the coaching staff on their fitness.
 
"The girls have been off since March so we really didn't know what to expect conditioning wise," said McBride. "But that's as loud as I can remember a practice being. Anytime somebody appeared to be getting tired, several teammates would push them to give them a little bit more so it was really encouraging to see that from the outset."
 
The Lady Lions have been awaiting the NCAA's decision on fall sports due to COVID-19.
 
"We talked yesterday during our team meeting about that," said McBride. "We wanted the girls to understand that some conferences had already lost their seasons and that we needed to be grateful of every chance we of getting on the field. And it showed this morning, the attitude and the enthusiasm was terrific."
 
SLU will resume practice later Tuesday afternoon with the focus being on keeping the excitement level high.
 
"We just want to get some smiles on their faces," said McBride. "I want them to enjoy being back on the field as much as possible. So the idea for this afternoon is to let them have a little fun and enjoy being around each other and scrimmage a little bit."
As the 2020 soccer schedule draws near, SLU has plenty of optimism with talent and experience returning.
 
Southeastern returns seven seniors including Nadine Maher (GK), Tilly Hallas-Potts (D), Jada Ellis (D), Carla Cortina (MF), Megan Gordon (MF), Hitomi Konno (MF) and Lexie Gundersen (D). The Lady Lions will also have the services of leading goal scorers from 2019, sophomores Ellie Williams and Mya Guillory.
 
The Lady Lions, returning 25 of 28 letter winners from last season, are slated to begin the season the first week in September.
 
SCORE ONE MORE CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the women's soccer program are encouraged to join the Score One More Club.  Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners. All membership fees and donations to Score One More Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern soccer program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Soccer, follow @LionUpSoccer and @chrismcbride88 on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.