FLORIDA TECH

FIT women’s soccer team prepares for life after Haig

Michael Parsons
FLORIDA TODAY

It is the question on everyone’s mind as the Florida Tech women’s soccer team prepares for a new season.

How will they respond in the first season without longtime coach Fidgi Haig.

On the field, Dustin Smith believes that the team will be as close as they have ever been. He has already seen signs of it in the offseason, saying the team is close and everyone is working ‘towards one cause.’

It is off the field that will be the challenge as the Florida Tech women’s soccer team prepares to walk onto the field for the first time without longtime head coach Fidgi Haig, who died earlier this year after a heart attack.

“The soccer part of it will not be the issue. It is going to be the emotional aspect of it,” said Smith, who takes over as the head coach after spending five seasons as an assistant under Haig. “They are still young adults and I am sure there will be moments through the course of the season that it might hit them and affect them emotionally.”

Smith admits that he expects to have those same kinds of moments.

“When you lose someone that is not only a great friend and mentor but overall just a great human being, that does make things difficult. It still hasn’t sunk in for me,” Smith said. “I still think he is on vacation, so for me it is going to hit hard probably during the grind of things, there is going to be those moments when he and I would just sit in the cafeteria and discuss the game or lineups or formation, and not having that is when I feel, for me, that it will start to sink in.”

It was those times with Haig that have helped Smith feel confident that he is ready to take on the challenge of leading the Panthers.

“Fidgi and I had the same philosophy. We will play the same style, there may be a couple of things we need to tweak. It goes with your personnel,” Smith said. “If everyone is healthy there will be a couple of tweaks to how we play but we are going to be that same possession-oriented type team, creative going forward, enjoying the game with a smile, and just having a good time.”

Health was a big issue last season as the team lost many key players to injury during the season.

“Getting some of the girls back from last year that went down to injury is an automatic boost for us and they are familiar with the team, so that is going to hopefully put us back where we want to be,” Smith said. “Then you talk about the class that we signed coming in, we have some international experience as well as some local talent. We are very excited. On paper, everything looks great and that is why we have high expectations.”

But not much time. The team opens camp Aug. 11 and will hold its first scrimmage Aug. 18 with the team opening the season on the road Sept. 3 in Texas.

Honoring Fidgi

The Panthers will honor Fidgi Haig tonight as his former club team, Club Sportif Saint-Louis of Haiti, is set to compete at 7 p.m. at Rick Stottler Field on the campus of Florida Tech. Expected to play in the contest are Florida Tech alumnae Teresa Brantley, Rachel Devlin, Allison Downie, Jen Gillette, Carlene Harrison, Courtney Hueston, Carly Hunt, DeeDee Newland and Melissa Pyles; as well as former Brevard Youth Soccer League players Chelsea Brady, KC Corellus, Katie Jackson, Olivia Thompson and Jessalyn Withers. Haig’s son Landen will team up with CSSL, donning the No. 13 jersey made famous by his father.