Soccer will play its fourth district game against Flower Mound at home on Feb. 4. Varsity tied Irving Nimitz on Jan. 24, beat Coppell 3-1 on Jan. 28 and lost to Marcus 3-0 on Jan. 31. 

The Hawks play each team in the district twice during the regular season. Last year, they beat Flower Mound in the first match, but lost the second match after senior captain Lucas George broke his toe during the match.

“I still came away from that game going, ‘Man, I thought we really took it to them for the first half of the game up until that injury happened,’” Zimmerman said. “Historically speaking, we’ve done well against them. For some reason, we match up well against them, play well against them, and I expect this year to be no different.” 

Flower Mound’s varsity team was mostly made up of seniors last year. Zimmerman said he expects them to start slower than usual, but he has confidence Flower Mound head coach David Doyle will help them find their way. 

“It’s basically one or two returners out of 27 people on their roster last year,” Zimmerman said. “I think they’re going to be a team that starts slowly, but Coach Doyle is a fabulous coach. He’s been around the game all his life and I hold him in the utmost respect. I think by the end of the season, they’ll be playing their best soccer.”

To better prepare for district play, Zimmerman challenged the Hawks to play difficult teams in preseason including Prosper and Southlake. All of their preseason opponents were nationally or regionally ranked teams. 

“We do have a below .500 record right now, but I think that’s more of a reflection on the teams we’ve played,” Zimmerman said. “It’s been a very good preseason as far as trying to learn what’s best for us, how we have to go about doing things and what we need to correct going forward into district.”

Zimmerman said the team’s greatest struggle has been making correctable mistakes. 

“It comes down to field awareness, communication and trying to clean up the little things,” Zimmerman said. “I think there’s talent on this team, but we get in our own way more than anything else. We’re trying to figure out how we’re going to fix those problems.” 

There are four spots available in the district playoffs. Zimmerman said he thinks the Hawks will be vying for the fourth because there are  strong teams in the district. 

“I think Flower Mound is a team we’re going to have to beat out for a playoff spot,” Zimmerman said. “A victory over Flower Mound certainly would go a long way as putting us ahead of them and getting us closer to that last playoff spot. I do think there’s three teams that are kind of a cut above right now. I expect them to all be in the playoffs, and I think that the fourth team right now could be one of three or four different teams.”