Coach Derek Potteiger and his Lee men’s soccer team open the 2024 season at the Ray Conn Athletic Complex before what is expected to be a packed house on Thursday evening at 6 p.m.
“We cannot wait to play at the Ray Conn Sports Center,” said Coach Potteiger. “We know we are going to have a great crowd and there is nothing more our guy’s love doing than playing at home, under the lights, in front of our fans. We hope we can give them something to cheer about Thursday and the rest of the season!”
The Flames are coming off 8-6-4 2023 season and will be hosting a University of North Greenville (SC) team that was 4-8-4, but the Trailblazer’s last defeat in 2023 came in Sept.
During that period, they posted all four wins, and the remaining contests ended in ties.
Coach Potteiger’s Flames pinned a 3-0 defeat on the Trailblazers in Greenville last September. “I do not think 3-0 was a fair representation of how the game played out over 90 minutes last year against North Greenville,” the Coach noted recalling the 2023 contest. “Beyond that I do not think their record represented their quality or ability. I fully expect them to continue how they ended the season last year. We have no false expectations that this game is going to be anything other than a 90-minute battle. We are going to have to do all the little things right and we are going to need our difference makers to step up and make an impact.”
Potteiger also took a moment to define the term “disappointment” that was referred to in his preseason remarks. “It was not necessarily just our 8-6-4 record last year that I was disappointed about. I was actually proud of the way we ended and the fact we went to the GSC semi-finals before we got knocked out by a West Florida team that was extremely talented. The disappointment was that we lost our identity - both on the field and off – and everything felt hard and even at times the wins felt discouraging.”
Potteiger added, “We have worked to make intentional adjustments from the moment last season ended and I think we are in a much better place as a team this year. Winning is never easy though in DII college soccer and certainly not in our conference, and so any changes we have made do not guarantee any specific outcomes. We are still going to have to fight with every part of who we are in every single game we play this season.”
The Coach, who enters his eighth season at Lee, says his team’s preseason work has been solid.” It never feels like it is long enough, and the first game always arrives before you feel ready; but I do know our group is ready to compete and get tested in a real game,” he proclaimed. “We won’t be perfect, but whatever the outcome, we know we will keep getting better, so I do think we are ready for the opportunity.”
Coach Potteiger says the GSC gets tougher and tougher every year and this year the conference will be as strong as ever from top to bottom. “We know what we have to do in terms of our schedule and so the goal is to be challenged in our first few games, make the necessary improvements and adjustments, and be ready to go for GSC play. Hopefully, we can be a bit more prepared this year and get some of those early results in the conference.”
The Coach noted that “it will take a few games into the season to really know where we are the strongest and also the areas that we will need to work to improve in over the year; but we hope our commitment to each other and the program is palpable from the first minute.”