Last season’s state championship loss to St. Thomas Aquinas did not slow Niceville down. If anything, the Lady Eagles are still performing at a high level despite the number of seniors they lost.
- Even without Jezlyn Nelson‘s goal-scoring prowess, Reagan Shinn‘s defensive abilities and Michelle Melancon‘s postseason heroics, Niceville is 3-0-1, with the only blemish being a tie last Friday against Pensacola Catholic, a fellow regional champion.
“We haven’t missed a beat. They stepped right in and filled the shoes and they have not missed a beat. We miss all of the players we left, but we miss them because they were family. We are back on the field just as strong as we were yesterday,” Head Coach Kelly Fernandez said.
At the heart of the Lady Eagles are two key returners from last year, Delaney Diehl and Abbey Kuritz, who each already have three goals this season.
“She’s the same Delaney that has carried us through since she was a freshman. She’s a heck of a player,” Fernandez said. “Abbey’s a breed of her own. She sees the game, she plays it in a different style. It’s almost neat to watch.”
The defense was Niceville’s calling card last season, a stout unit that posted clean sheet after clean sheet and allowed only eight goals all year. The foundation of that group remains with Courtney Gehringer and Eden Wise, plus star goalkeeper Eden Shaw.
While Niceville remains one of the favorites in Class 5A, and rightfully so, the program has its sights set higher: becoming the first area team to qualify for the Open Division. Niceville would have made it had the Open Division existed last year, and this year the opportunity is wide open.
“We are after that new division they have. It’s what we want,” Fernandez said.
Whether or not the Lady Eagles qualify, another special season for Niceville girls soccer seems to be in the cards.
