The girls soccer team is looking to build chemistry as the season begins.

“In the offseason we struggled to bond as a team and connect,” defender Bre Jimenez said. “Now we have found our strengths and our weaknesses and we will be focusing on that.”

Players organized a variety of activities to help.

“We’d go out to dinner, carve pumpkins (at Halloween), and just hang out with each other as a group to connect,” Jimenez said, adding that they also stayed “off of social media and our phones.”

As a senior captain, Jimenez said the bonding activities have helped.

“I feel like we’re a good team as long as we just try and communicate,” she said.

Her co-captain is senior Maggie Gaines, a midfielder.

“I feel like the team does a good job of listening to us as captains and respecting us,” Gaines said. “I think it is a very big team sport and it’s not really about individuals, but they do a very good job of listening to the upperclassmen.”

Gaines said the team has improved since the preseason.

“I think we really grew as a team,” she said. “Over the preseason we really didn’t play together or play well, and we didn’t bond. I just think through the preseason and offseason we definitely got better as a team.”

First-year head coach Ryan Worsham has also noticed improvement with his team.

“I think we’ve grown a lot especially since August,” he said. “Preseason was really rough, so the girls are definitely in shape and they’ve definitely grown in the last few weeks tactically. Through our first few games we’ve grown a lot, so we’re really ready to get into district play and the meat of the season.”