The Fountain Hills High School soccer season begins today, Wednesday, Nov. 30. The Falcons recruited heavily in the offseason, and there will be more new faces than familiar ones.

“There’s a lot of new players. I think we have 18 players on the team, which is pretty surprising,” junior Josh Ball said. “I thought maybe we’d have 11 tops, but we’ve recruited some new players, so it’s kind of a new team, but we do have a big roster so I’m kind of optimistic about that.”

Ball is one of seven returning players for the boys varsity team, and he is joined by returning juniors Jaxson Butcher, Brenan Davies, and Jaden Harned. Nico Cini is the only senior to return from last year.

The Falcons also have a new head coach in Malcolm Cutting, and he’s pulling double duty by coaching both the boys and girls. Cutting was hired shortly before the season and retired to Fountain Hills this past January.

Cutting is from Kentucky and last coached four years ago. He’s coached soccer and several other sports, including a field hockey championship team. His daughter, Evelyn Cutting, joined him as an assistant coach this year.

Junior Danny Gonzalez also returned but in a team manager capacity this year. He injured his leg on the very last practice last year and is still recovering from surgery.

Sophomore Tyler Griggs grew several inches and has a much longer stride than he did as a freshman. Griffin Bos is another returning sophomore that played valuable minutes as a freshman.

According to Ball, most of the new players are upperclassmen and most are already in shape from other sports. One new player, senior Tory Johnson, earned all-region second team honors as a defensive back this year in football, and he’s playing both soccer and basketball this winter.

The new players were thrown into the deep end trying to defend Ball and Cini in practice. As one of the more experienced players, Ball took it on himself to show them what real game speed feels like. Ball played so aggressively in practice that Cutting compared him to a linebacker in football, but it only served to get the new players up to speed even quicker.

“It's a pleasure when you see somebody that's not experienced and the next thing you know, they start catching on,” Cutting said. “That's what I like about coaching. It's great to see these young kids just blossom into what they should be, and that to me is just what makes everything beautiful with the sport.”

Between Ball and Cini, the new goalkeepers are already fairly experienced. Senior Zacharie Gratton and freshman Alex Fessenden each have taken reps and impressed Cutting.

“These guys both have awesome reflexes and there are times I sit there, and my mouth is wide open,”

Cutting said. “They're playing against some guys that can really hit the ball hard and accurately. I saw Alex the other day jump up and pop one out of a corner, which is almost impossible to do as a goalie. I was like, ‘Wow’. I've got some talent on this team.”

Cutting said he has confidence in every position, even with his new players. Junior Garren Keeler has never played soccer before, but he fits in well as a defender and plays well with Davies on the defensive side.

“Garren’s coming out of himself to play, and it is beautiful to watch him cut somebody off and steal the ball,” Cutting said. “Bringing the young guys up, and that's the whole goal of this. To build a program where you start feeding on itself and you keep getting stronger and stronger as you go along.”

The Falcons went 3-12-1 last season after starting 0-7-1. They haven’t had a winning season since 2016-2017 and they know they may have another slow start this season with all their new players. Still, Ball and the rest of the returners will try their best to stay positive.

“Win or lose the first game, we’re going to give it our best shot,” Ball said. “We can’t let it get us down for the first part of the season.”

Cutting wants to install a new team culture and had every player sign a contract before this year. Cutting is against trash talk and ends each practice by shaking each player’s hand and telling them something positive they did.

The Falcons preseason work will be tested in the season opener tonight, Wednesday, Nov. 30. The Falcons host Benjamin Franklin at 6 p.m., and they’ll play at Gilbert Classical next Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 5:30 p.m.