It was a phenomenal season for the Fountain Hills High School girls soccer team and, despite not going as far as they had hoped in the postseason due to injuries, the team’s performance has head coach Ken Waterbury excited to see what his squad is capable of come next season.

The Lady Falcons’ 10-2 season kicked off on Dec. 3 with a match against Phoenix Country Day. FHHS won that match 5-0 and then went on to win their next two games.

Fountain Hills’ first loss of the season was against Northwest Christian, 2-0, on Dec. 17. But after that loss the Lady Falcons procced to go on a seven-game winning streak, allowing only five goals to be scored against them in total.

FHHS lost the last game of their regular season against Scottsdale Prep, 3-1. By then the Lady Falcons were missing key players due to injury or suspension, which Waterbury believes was the reason for the team’s 4-1 loss to Safford in the first round of the state playoffs on Feb. 11.

Despite not having an ideal finish, Waterbury said he is very happy with how the season panned out.

“I wasn’t sure what to expect going into the season with just 13 girls, half of which were freshmen, but I couldn’t be happier with how the girls regularly competed at every step along the way,” Waterbury said. “Going 10-2 in the regular season is a phenomenal achievement, but the team only briefly touched its full potential and I expect a huge leap forward going into next season.”

A lot of the talent that propelled the Lady Falcons was younger players who will be returning next season.

“We had three girls who stood out not just to me, but to the region and conference as well,” Waterbury said. “Lindsey McMahon won defensive player of the year in the region, Ashby Owen won offensive player of the year in the region and Parker Sweet won MVP of the region. I couldn’t say more about these three girls who swept the largest accolades in the region for their school. Their awards didn’t stop there, either, as Parker Sweet and Lindsey were awarded first team all-state while Ashby Owen was awarded all-state honorable mention. All three girls are juniors and look to bigger team awards next season.”

While Waterbury was particularly impressed with McMahon, Owen and Sweet’s skills on the pitch, he could say the same about every other Falcon.

“What impressed me most about this season was not the impressive results and the continuation of a winning culture for Fountain Hills girls soccer, but the quality of the group of girls we have,” Waterbury said. “The young women playing soccer for FHHS are an excellent, competitive and caring bunch of girls who are incredible to be around. I expect great things from all of them in the remainder of their soccer careers, as well as their other future aspirations.”

Going into next season Waterbury hopes to expand not only his roster, but also his coaching staff.

“Besides the importance of depth which, as a team, we are working on improving in the off season by being a team that is more appealing to the athletic talent pool that attends FHHS, I also learned the importance of individual player attention and training sessions,” Waterbury explained. “Ideally, next season we will have a deeper player pool, but also a deeper coaching staff that will allow for greater player development and attention.”

If all things go to plan, big things appear to be on the horizon for Lady Falcon soccer.