Before the Fall sports season began, St. Francis Area Schools asked each coach to answer questions about their upcoming season for a preview of Fall athletics for your Fighting Saints.
Girls Soccer
Head Coach Jake Cowie
Finished 2022 season at 13-5, lost in section semifinals 2-0 to Zimmerman.
Key Returner: Paityn Pendergrass, all state 2022.
Key Games: Zimmerman, Sept. 11; Big Lake, Sept. 25.
2023 season outlook from first-year Head Coach Jake Cowie, “Overall goal for the girls soccer team is to rebuild the program, have a competitive season, and provide a fun, happy, and safe environment for players to learn and grown in.
“Soccer this year will look a lot different than in previous years, with a large graduating class and a new coach. We look forward to being competitive in games throughout this year, whilst also looking forward to what this team can start building for the next few years.”
Boys Soccer
Head Coach Glenn Beggin
Finished 2022 season at 9-8, lost in section semifinals 2-1 to Princeton.
Key Returners: Elek Torok (12), Will Glissmeyer (12), and Alex Rau (11).
2023 Season outlook from Head Coach Glenn Beggin who begins his 54th season of coaching high school sports, “Our goal is to help the young men that we work with to learn the benefits of teamwork, individual effort, and dedication as they strive to learn about life through the sport of soccer.
“Since we graduated 14 seniors last season, we are excited to take on the schedule of games with new inexperienced players. We expect to be competitive in all of our games. We are the defending Mississippi 8 champions.”
Girls Volleyball
Head Coach Rachel Schroeder
Key Returners: Kennedy Clark and Lillianna Rowe
Key Games: Coon Rapids, Aug. 24. We're both on the same page having new head coaches this season should be a fun one. Cambridge-Isanti Sept. 21, (of course) always a tough match. Zimmerman Sept. 14, being new to the conference this fall.
2023 season outlook from first-year Head Coach Rachel Schroeder, “Over the last couple of years the volleyball program has been in a growth mindset. Each year we have been striving for better than the last. Our goal this season is to beat our record from last year and hope to end the season above .500!
“We have a new coaching staff. Hopefully we are all successful in living up to our why we coach statements, as well as the personal / team goals we have each set prior to the season beginning.
“We have 3 returning athletes this year, all which happen to be our captains. Lots of fresh new faces. As a coach I am hoping our athletes start meshing quickly. By that I mean learning new playing styles and adjusting to make things work as a whole.”
Football
Head Coach Tracy Torson
Finished 2022 season at 7-2, lost 51-21 to Andover in section semifinals
Key Returners: Owen Fiskewold, Grady Brunn, Sam Ruid, Aydan Carlson and Jacob Green
Key Games: Homecoming, Sept. 22 vs. Sauk Rapids-Rice; Battle for the Paddle, Sept. 29 @ Cambridge-Isanti; Youth & Tackle Cancer Night, October 6 vs. Andover; Parents/Senior Night, October 18 vs. Brainerd
2023 season outlook from first-year Head Coach Tracy Torson, “We play one of the toughest schedules in class 5A highlighted by state tournament teams: Elk River, Robbinsdale Armstrong, and perennial top 10 teams like Andover and Spring Lake Park. We have 13 seniors.”
Girls Tennis
Head Coach Joe Fredrickson
Finished 2022 season 13-9, tied for 3rd in Mississippi 8 Conference; Mississippi 8 Doubles Team of the Year with Josie Lupinek and Alexa Skogquist.
Key Returners: Macy Hass, first singles all conference; Alexa Skogquist and Josie Lupinek, first doubles all conference; Makenna Sander and Kiersten Terris, second doubles honorable mention all-conference.
Key Matches: We really play a demanding Section 7AA schedule with 8 matches in 3 days which helps set our path for tournament time. Our goal is to be 4-4 in those matches and above that means we are playing well early and should be in the top half of the Section at the end of the season if we can continue that.
2023 season outlook from Head Coach Joe Fredrickson, “we strive to be a difficult team to compete against while maintaining a high level of character and sportsmanship. When a match is over, we want our players to have given their best effort and for the opponent to have played against someone who never gives up no matter the score.
“We ended last regular season with a 10-match winning streak and extended it to 12 at the start of this year which is the longest win streak that we have had in the last 20+ years.”