Dorne Yeager is an engineer by trade.

Now, he'll get a chance to see if he can engineer the first winning season in girls' soccer history at Glen Lake.

Yeager is replacing Tom Staltieri is coach of the Lakers this year, but he’s no stranger to many of the girls on the team. He’s been a volunteer coach with the Leelanau Youth Soccer Organization since 1996 and has a pretty good handle on this year’s squad.

“I’ve been coaching some of these girls since kindergarten, so I know what they can do,” he said.
“Hopefully, we’ll improve and build on the momentum the girls started last year.”

The Lakers posted a school record-best 9-10 record in 2006, and will field a team that’s young yet experienced this year.

“Our sophomores and freshmen will be a big part of the team.” he said. “But we should also have plenty of depth and experience working for us.”

Among the younger players are sophomores Theresa Hubbell, who led the team in goals as a freshman, and the speedy Codi Yeager, the coach’s daughter. Other members of the youth movement include sophomores Barbara Buchan and Missi Frixen, and freshmen Jordan Lewis, Paige Stachnik, Cassie Lee, Mandy Brown, Shelby Ockert and Brooke Matson.

Though the coach is counting on his young players, he’s looking to juniors and seniors to provide leadership, scoring and defense to the Lakers attack. Seniors Amanda Mikowski and Carly Krull were named team co-captains this year, and classmates Ali Cruz and Molly Harkness will also play key roles.

Heading up the list of juniors is goalkeeper Gina Gauthier, who will be starting for the third straight year in the nets for the Lakers, and Emily Hubbell, who was second on the team in goals last year and the team leader in total points (goals and assists). Hubbell, who has recovered from off-season reconstructive knee surgery, and Gauthier were also named to the all-District team last year. Other juniors expected to make major contributions include twins Hannah and Skye Hillier, Emma Cook, and Leah Carey.

Yeager said two other factors should enable the Lakers to field a competitive team. One is that a core group of team members played indoor soccer this winter.

“This is the first time they’ve done this,” he said. “It’s important that your touches in the spring aren’t the first since last season.”

The second factor is that Camille Frixen, an aerobics instructor, has been working with the team to build strength and on conditioning two days a week.

“Camille’s working with them on strength as much as anything else. They’re working muscles a lot of them didn’t know they had,” he said.

Yeager, who is being helped with scheduling and administration duties by his wife, Shelley, said his goal is for the team to improve technically.

“Technically, we need to get a little bit better, like correcting mistakes, playing harder and executing better,” he said, adding that he’s focusing on passing and trapping drills in spring practice.

The Lakers open their 17-game schedule next week when they travel to Manistee to play the Chippewas on Thursday, April 12.