When last year’s soccer season ended, the Fountain Hills High School girls weren’t sure they’d have a team this year. They ended last season with less than 10 players, and they had no coach at the start of this school year.

The players took a breath of relief when they met Malcolm Cutting a few weeks ago. He is coaching both boys and girls this year, and the season begins at home later today, Wednesday, Nov. 30. The girls start by hosting Benjamin Franklin at 4 p.m.

The Falcons returned six girls from last year and almost have double the upperclassmen from last year. Olivia Sopeland and Jordan Pace return as seniors, and Hailey Chandler, Stella Grieco and Jeneya Boone return as juniors.

The Falcons have 10 players and two other freshmen that watched practices last week and may join the team. Cutting is cautiously optimistic that they can improve from last year’s 0-10 season.

“It’s going to be a fun year, I hope,” Cutting said. “I don’t have any substitutions, and that’s the only part that scares me. That's why I say ‘I hope,’ because you could get whittled down by another team pretty fast. They could get discouraged and I don’t want that to happen to these young people because they're a talented group of people.”

Cutting tried to prepare the girls, especially his new players, with mixed practices with the boys. The two teams scrimmaged with each other, which allowed them to play games in practice instead of just running drills.

“I think it was a good learning experience to see how we all play together,” Chandler said. “It was good to give the newer people a look at what a game would sort of look like.”

Cutting tried to pit the best offensive players against the best defensive players in the scrimmages, regardless of their gender. One striker that caught everyone’s attention is sophomore Sara Dethlefs, and once Cutting started letting the players pick teams, she was always a top pick.

“Sara's picked almost every time, first or second,” Cutting said. “She is super talented, and she plays club. She is just a soccer player, and it’s beautiful to watch her.”

Grieco and Boone showed their defensive prowess in the scrimmages. Boone was an all-region honorable mention goalkeeper as a freshman and Cutting described Grieco as an anchor because of her communication skills.

“[Stella] was telling the players who to go after and where to take them,” Cutting said. “It was so impressive. I told her several times yesterday. I’m like, ‘you know this is what I live for. It's beautiful to watch this.’ I mean, I can't coach that, and she's back there and it was with the boys, and she was telling them where to go and who to cut off and they were doing it.”

Another factor that excites Cutting is the effort from the girls outside of practice. He said there’s usually at least six players that stay after practice, and he always sees sophomore Zoe Kohoutek staying late.

“I've got young ones that have not played and they're stepping up to the plate,” Cutting said. “That’s what is amazing to me. After practice is over, they'll sit there for an hour and keep practicing. Sometimes it’s almost the whole team. Zoe’s there continuously, she wants to go. I mean she wants to play this game. She wants to get better, and you just got to love that.”

Kohoutek is new to soccer, but she has chemistry with Sopeland because of volleyball. Other new faces include Jaden Dunkeson, Paula Graber, Katie Dwyer, and Rianon Edwards. Racine Homyak returns as a sophomore, and she had plenty of preseason conditioning with the cross country team this past fall.

Cutting wants to see gradual improvement with the girls, starting today. He noticed individual players gain some confidence when they got a boy with a move in practice, and he hopes they can repeat some of that success in a real game.

“For me, the best thing that could happen, win or lose, and I want to win, don't misunderstand, but win or lose, I want to see them build themselves up and watch this team grow,” Cutting said. “That's the key thing for me because it's beautiful to watch these young kids step out of their comfort zone and learn.”

After the season opener, the Falcons will prepare for two games next week. They play at Gilbert Classical Academy on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 3:30 p.m., and they host Coolidge on Thursday, Dec. 8, at 4 p.m.