Less than two months ago the girls’ varsity soccer coach Joan Murphy resigned, leaving the athletic department with only a month to find a new coach before the spring season. Leadership teacher Mike Astudillo stepped up and took over the position.

Astudillo formerly coached soccer at Chantilly High School and has coached on and off for about 12 to 15 years.

“At the high school I was at previously, we had extremely high expectations,” Astudillo said. “All of the different routines, practices and practice scheduling are exactly the same as what I did at Chantilly. It’d proved to be pretty effective while I was there.”

Astudillo has already shown his dedication through early morning practices at 5:30 a.m. for preseason training that has gained a positive reaction from players.

“I think Mr. A will be a motivational and committed coach which will help out this year’s team and in turn the whole girls’ soccer program,” senior midfielder Jenna Anderson said. “[The practices] are really early in the morning but will definitely pay off. Once the actual season starts, the team will connect better and we will be a lot more in shape.”

“I like 5 a.m. practices because I love starting the day off with soccer,” junior defender Lindsey Gibson said. “Mr. A seems like a really nice and supportive guy and I’m excited to have him as a coach because I think he can make the team successful.”

Astudillo expresses that he will “hopefully not” have to continue morning practices after the final team has been selected.

“It depends on how the season goes,” Astudillo said. “I want to see them play as much as I can in a short amount of time. If, as the season goes along, we need more practice, then we’ll practice more and go back to the morning schedule.”

Tryouts will begin on Feb. 18 at 10 a.m. and during the week of tryouts Astudillo will call certain players to continue the morning practices.

“I’m looking forward to a great year,” Astudillo said. “I’m bringing a different mindset and there’s a core group of kids that are already on board so hopefully everybody else will be as well.”