by Annie Cox ’24
March 4, 2024
Boys’ Soccer
Boys’ soccer finished last season with a 1-0 loss to Lausanne in the state semifinals. Despite the team losing 12 team members in the class of ‘23, this year’s team stills hope to finish what they started last year.
“Our primary goal is to win state,” Mark Luschen ‘24 said. “But also just have a fun season… [to win state] we need to bond as a team and work for each other and then we will hopefully perform at the high level needed to win.”
But their journey to State will not come easily, as much of last year’s starting line-up was from the class of ‘23 who have since graduated.
“We lost a lot of key pieces of the team, so filling some gaps could be a challenge and working as a team. We can’t play as individually as we did last year because we don’t have as much individual talent,” Luschen said.
But these gaps can be filled in with the new group of seniors, who like last year, have 12 members, most of whom are starters.
“The biggest difference between this season and last season is, while on paper we might not look as good [as last year], team chemistry is going to be exponentially better,” Eli Galentino ‘24 said. “Almost the full starting lineup is seniors who have been playing together for four years, and it’s not like there’s one star player who wants the ball or who is going to ball hog. We just play well together.”
The boys’ soccer team began their season on February 22, at Brentwood Academy. Their first home game was Tuesday, February 27, at the River Campus. Results were not available at press time.
Girls’ Lacrosse
Girls’ Lacrosse opened their season with two scrimmages against CPA and FRA, then a journey to play teams in Louisville on February 23-24. The team played in Louisville last year and will return to Kentucky hoping to start off the season with some wins. The games will count as scrimmages on the team’s record and serve as an opportunity for the girls to bond.
“The Louisville trip is always one that really brings the team together … .It’s kind of the best way to get that team bonding in right before the season starts,” Kate Vaughn ‘24 said. “We all go up together and come back as this new, unified team…that’s a great way to begin any sports season, but especially lacrosse.”
The team is underclassmen heavy. With over a third of the players being freshman, these players (both those new to the sport and those with experience from middle school) will add new variety to the team.
“Everyone’s gonna have to really buy in and figure out where they mesh,” Vaughn said. “I’m really excited to see how the freshmen change our team- I think it’s looking really promising.”
The 2024 seaso will be the last year that lacrosse is not a TSSAA sport, so in preparation for the shift next season, the playoffs are going to be modeled off of what they will be like next year. This means that more teams from USN’s district will get a playoff seed, expanding the chances for the girls’ team.
“Some of the team’s goals are to get a spot in the state tournament since it’s expanded to more teams and win against some teams [that were close losses last year] like Father Ryan and CPA,” Vaughn said. “Also to just grow as a team with this new group of players.”
Boys’ Lacrosse
USN’s boys’ lacrosse team joined with FRA’s lacrosse team this year in an effort to get more numbers. This in itself has brought in new players with varying levels of playing experience and ages, which has heightened the necessity of team bonding.
Jack Loss ‘24, one of the four USN seniors on the team, thinks that team chemistry will be the biggest challenge for the boys’ lacrosse program this year.
“Especially with the new FRA guys coming over to our team.. We don’t have a sense of togetherness, but I think everyone is equally stepping up- [becoming] comfortable in uncomfortable situations,” Loss said. “We can definitely overcome [this challenge] little by little in the season by playing games and practicing with each other.”
While there is some adjustment time to having new people on the team, the players from FRA should help the team become more balanced and give players more chances to rest during a game.
“They’re gonna help us defensively, offensively, and are definitely going to allow us to open up the field,” Loss said. “In previous years we have suffered from not having a ton of substitutions for guys to get rest, but this year we have a ton of guys who are willing to play and wanting to play.”
“We have a ton of options on both sides of the field and hopefully this will contribute to a winning season full of great victories and we’re super hopeful on a lacrosse team and we’re all super positive,” Loss said. “We all have a growth mindset right now.. We’re all very very positive with where the season is headed.”
The team had their first opportunity to test their chemistry when they traveled to Chattanooga the last weekend.
Girls’ Tennis
This is a historic season for the girls’ tennis team. Following the loss of their four members of the class of 2023 –Meera Boyapati, Gabby Siew, Mills Morgan Ratliff, and Jojo O’Hara — the team is looking to fill in the gaps.
Coach Patty Diehl described how the team this year is looking to fill in for the gap that the graduated seniors left behind on the team.
“We’re missing that strong sense of leadership. They [Boyapati, Siew, Ratliff, and O’Hara] were our leaders their junior year [in 2022] because we didn’t have any seniors and leaders their senior year [in 2023] for their tennis ability,” Diehl said.
But all hope is not lost for the team, Clare-Tilly Evans ‘24 moved from California to USN this year and joined the team as the only senior.
Additionally, the team has made a decision that they have not had to make in over a decade.
Diehl said, “We have girls who have moved here from different states who will contribute to the lineup and for the first time in 12 years, we have asked an eighth grader, Lily Duong ‘28, to join our team to play number one singles.”
The team hosted a scrimmage at the River Campus on Monday, February 26, against Lipscomb Academy.
Boys’ Tennis
After a successful run to state ended in a 3-4 loss in the quarterfinals, the boys’ tennis team is hoping that the younger distribution of the team will allow them to win both this year and years into the future.
“The goal for the boy’s team is to win the district and then compete for the state championship,” said Simon Fox ‘24. “We’re a relatively young team, having lost many leaders to graduation, and we have a small –– but dedicated –– number of people on the team this year.”
Fox is one of two seniors on the tennis team, along with Cole Patterson, but they are not alone in leadership. There are six juniors on the tennis team, most of whom are veteran players. Juniors Colin Chan ‘25 and Jude Eskind ‘25, for example, were the line two doubles last year are returning to play again.
These veteran players will play a crucial role in this season as the team welcomes a new head coach.
“It’s the first time in many years we haven’t Dr. [Scott] Collins as our head coach, but we know that Coach Buschi, former Belmont University coach, will do a great job,” Fox said.
While the veteran players are key to a smooth transition of power, new members to the team are also expected to add to the success of the season.
Saawan Duvvuri ‘26, for example, is new to USN this year and new to the tennis team, but expected to be the line one single. He has a Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) of 8.
The boys’ team hosted a scrimmage at Lipscomb Academy on February 26 and will play their first official match will be against Father Ryan at home on March 19.
Track and Field
A lot of things have chan A lot of things have changed for the track and field team: a new head coach, all of the senior leadership graduating last year, and there are 30 freshmen (compared to the ten seniors on the roster) who are new to high school track.
Alima Kassim ‘24 who recently signed to continue her track career at Vanderbilt University said that the biggest challenge will be filling in the spots left by the students who graduated or transferred.
“Our goals are to get good 4x1s and 4x2s, because we lost a lot of teammates last year who were a big part of [those relays]…” she said. “We’re just trying to keep our standing in Tennessee, while adapting to the new coaching style.”
The new head coach, Robert Cochrum (called Coach Robbie by the team), comes from Harding Academy’s Track and Field program and is replacing former head coach Lindsey Bachman after she decided to take some space from the program.
One the distance side of track, aside from coaching changes, many things have stayed the same.
Meer Aban, a senior distance runner, says that this season has many of the same leaders as it did last year.
“Since the boys’ team has everyone who was present last year (except those who graduated),” said Aban. “All of us are experienced on the team, so even with new members the team is very much like it was last year… but this season is unique because of the amount of underclassmen who have joined.”
The combination of veteran runners and new underclassmen leads to some growing pains of the team.
“Our biggest challenge this season will definitely be putting the pieces together- in terms of relays, finding that combination can be really special or in individual events, seeing what you need to do that can take you to the next level,” Aban said.
After overcoming this hurdle, the team hopes to push further into the postseason than they did last year.
“Our biggest goal right now is to improve on what we did last season. We saw the boys’ team’s highest finish in school history last year…we finished fourth in the region and we were really happy about that,” Aban said. “But, talking with the guys since then, we have all wanted to aim higher and potentially secure that bid to state.
Track will have their first opportunity to demonstrate their growth and the effect of new members of the team during their first meet on Wednesday, March 6 at the River Campus.
Girls’ Frisbee
The two-time defending state champion girls’ frisbee team is back this season hungry to continue their streak. In order to win, however, the team needs to come together.
Clara Smail ‘24, says that their biggest goal this season is to find that connection needed to play.
“Our [biggest] goal for this year is to create a stronger sense of team spirit and community because we do have a lot of new players, which is so exciting,” she said. “Frisbee is the kind of sport that fosters such a strong sense of community and team spirit… we’re really going to focus on building that this season.”
Like the boys’ frisbee team, the River Campus Classic is going to be an opportunity for the girls to play frisbee against teams from across the country and perhaps become nationally ranked, something they were able to achieve last year.
While the RCC offers a great opportunity to expand their competitive horizons, it also comes with some challenges.
“It’s going to be a big challenge this season because we’re going to have to get used to playing a bunch of games and keeping our morale up,” Smail said. “[We are also] getting ready to play a bunch of teams that we’ve never played before.. because there aren’t a lot of girls frisbee teams in the Middle Tennessee area, so we play the same people a lot.”
The team won their first scrimmage on February 22 over Hillsboro. On February 24, they defeated Hillsboro again but fell to a combined Independence-Knoxville team in a round robin at the River Campus.
Boys’ Frisbee
Last year boys’ frisbee won the state championship. This year they are hoping for even more.
“Our main goal is to get nationally ranked…We want the two-pete [win of states], but getting nationally ranked will bring us to another level,” Gavin Higgins ‘24 said.
To be able to earn this ranking, the team needs to play against other ranked teams, which are mostly out of state. However, by working to earn the national distinction (which will give the winner of the River Campus Classic a national tournament berth), the team hopes to attract top talent and improve their strength of schedule.
The roster itself is large, with 36 players, 13 of whom are seniors. This large team serves as both an advantage and a hurdle the players will need to get over during the season.
Adam Wang ‘24 said, “We have a lot of talented players, but we need to mesh really well together and get our systems on lock.”
The team won their first scrimmage on February 22 over Hillsboro, 12-6. They went 1-2 in a home round robin tournament on February 24, picking up a win over Birmingham’s Forge and falling to McCallie and a combined Independence-River’s Edge team. They will travel to play in Atlanta the weekend of March 23 for the Terminus tournament and will host the River Campus Classic will take place on April 6-7.
Softball
The softball team’s second season after returning to high school will be marked by an uptick in the number of players and an improvement in their facilities.
Amelie Soslow ‘25, one of the members who worked hard to bring the team back, says that these improvements feel like they are a step in the right direction for the team.
“It’s really exciting because we got new dugouts and we got a new coach. I feel like softball is being taken a lot more seriously, which is super amazing,” Soslow said.
Before the installation of the new dugouts, the team’s field, compared to the boys’ baseball field, had many technical issues and flooding problems, preventing the girls from being able to practice as often. These improvements to the facilities may allow the team to achieve their goals.
Soslow said their goal is to “just to work on playing well in games.. we’re still building the foundation.”
The team’s historic return to the field was written about last May, and they will continue to play again starting with a scrimmage on February 29 at St. Cecilia Academy. The team’s first official game is March 5 against St. Cecilia.
Baseball
The baseball team is hoping to continue what they started last year on their run to the state tournament, but are also aware of the fact that they lost many of their class of 2023 players. Two of the 2023 graduates, Owen Block and Townsend Stevenson are now teammates at Wash U.
Dylan Washko ‘24 explained how the smaller number of seniors from last year to this year has affected the team.
“Last year we had six or seven seniors, now we only have four. So a lot less leadership- fewer people to do more jobs,” he said.
The baseball team finished last year after falling to Christian Academy of Knoxville in the state quarterfinals.
“We did much better than we initially thought [last year]. We knew we would do well, but making it to state was not on the original agenda,” he said.
This year, the hope is to continue the momentum last year. The team already has two different college commits: Alexander Peck ‘25 to the University of Arkansas and Mahoney Daunic ‘24 to Denison University.
The team has their first game on March 6 against Brentwood Academy. One main objective the team needs to do to win that game and future ones, is to work to mentor and include the younger players.
Washko said, “[The team can] just encourage the underclassmen who maybe have not played as much baseball as [the veteran players] to really talk to us and tell us what’s going on so we can remain a team and win.”
