Warriors Open 2026 Soccer Season with High Hopes for Upcoming Season

The Walnut Grove Warrior boys and girls give their overall feelings on this starting soccer season, as well as their previous 2025 season.
by Ty Cameron and Harrison Smith

Girls Varsity vs. Jackson County
The girls hosted Jackson County. It was a tough match, and unfortunately, the girls lost 2-1. Emily Baggett, a senior, expressed her thoughts on the season's start.

“I’m feeling good. The team is really connecting on a different level this year so hopefully that will translate to the field and we will be able to do well.”

Along with the boys, the girls varsity put a lot of effort into conditioning for this season. “We’re preparing by practicing together [and] working hard. We’re [also] doing NG3 to try and connect off the field.”

She explains that the team has become a lot more connected in the time before the season. When asked what personal things she’s working on, she stated, “I’m working on… trying to stay out of my head when I’m on the field and just play the game.”

Both the boys and girls had a good season last year. Emily gave her thoughts on last season; she was especially proud of the girls making it to the Elite Eight. “We worked together and it showed.”

Along with a great season come some setbacks and holdups. Emily explained, “I think something that held us back last season was… we went into a few games with the wrong mindset sometimes, but we started to fix that throughout the season.”


​Boys Varsity vs. West Forsyth
On February 10, 2026, the Walnut Grove boys varsity soccer team started the season off hot with a 3-0 victory over West Forsyth. This victory is the result of what they've been preparing for since the fall.

Wyatt Hawkins, a junior, noted that, “We prepared pretty well, starting conditioning in October. I feel like having a younger team is a bit of a setback, but we’re still learning how to play with each other.”

Kweku Assan, a sophomore, responded with, “We’re really taking it seriously in practice. We’re trying to work better as a team, ‘cause not a lot of us have played together before, so like, we’re trying to build the chemistry up."

Along with the team preparations, Wyatt improved on his personal skills. “I have become more of a leader, being one of the upperclassmen on the team,” he said.

When asked about the 2024-2025 season, Kweku responded, “I did well. We could’ve done better as a team. I did my part. I mean, a lot of people did their parts too, but like, the little things in practice that we could’ve done better on.”

Part of improving is figuring out problems and how to fix them. Kweku went on to bring up some of the things that held the team back last season: “The lack of seriousness in practice. The little things. Just joking around. Just the small stuff.”



Both the boys and girls will be playing against Lanier on February 12 at home. Come out and support your Warriors!