The Lady Governors are ready to take the next step.

William Blount girls soccer went 10-4-3 last season — its second consecutive year with double-digit victories — and showed continued progress for a program that wasn’t too far removed from winning just 11 games between 2020-23.

Next on the Lady Govs’ agenda is playing a full schedule in the stacked District 4-AAA. WB is still working its way back up to that point — it hasn’t scheduled the six-game district slate since 2023 after its second straight winless season — but last year’s 3-0 loss to Maryville and a 0-0 draw with Lenoir City were signs of improvement in the Lady Govs’ abbreviated district action.

WB opens 2026 hosting Maryville on Aug. 18 and will visit Lenoir City on Aug. 25. Another step forward for the Lady Govs is putting Farragut back on their schedule, set for Sept. 8. Contenders Seymour (Sept. 3) and Alcoa (Sept. 17) will be good tests for William Blount, as will a weekend at the Smoky Mountain Cup from Aug. 28-30.

The task won’t be easy for the Lady Govs, which graduated eight seniors in 2025, but with returning sophomore Malloree Creasy back in goal, a good core of upperclassmen still intact, and ample momentum inspired by two of their winningest seasons this century, William Blount is confident it can keep climbing.

“I think as we get a couple preseason games under our belt, they’ll see, especially the young girls, what high school soccer’s about,” WB head coach Drew Ownby told The Daily Times.

“We got a long way to go, but we’re getting there.

“The biggest piece every year is communication, learning to communicate with the new roster and who’s going to step up on the field. Take that by the horns and be the on-the-field captain.”

Ownby shared some early thoughts on the season ahead with The Daily Times. Answers were edited for brevity and clarity.

What’s the biggest challenge this season?

OWNBY: We’re playing a tougher schedule. We’re building in tougher teams, trying to get back to playing our full district schedule. We’ve added a lot of teams that compete for their district or win their district about every year, like Seymour and Alcoa. We brought Farragut back on the schedule. We’re ramping up our schedule to show the girls what level they need to be on in order to actually compete for a full district.

What things does the team need to do to be successful this year?

OWNBY: Our midfield, we’ve got to get a little bit better. I thought we got behind the ball some, especially in that last game (at the Heritage Jamboree). It’s just getting the feel for playing on a full pitch. They get caught high, and then they’re like, ‘Uh-oh. We’ve got to turn around and make a run back.’ So I think they’ll get used to that as we get more games under us, but you always see that gap in the middle, and then trying to close that down and get your forwards to help out a little bit defensively.

What veterans will be leaders this season?

OWNBY: We’ve got important returners. Lily Breeden, Reese Smith, our goalkeeper Malloree Creasy, our two center backs Paisley Ownby and Parker Robbins. That’s kind of our core right there. And then we got a couple of juniors now: Addison Vitale did a good job outside and a newcomer, Rylie Petruescu, who I thought did good job on the other outside back. So we’ve got a pretty good core and then some good young players.

What newcomers do you expect to have the biggest impact?

OWNBY: We have a good freshman, Aly Peltz, she played up top. She’s little, but she’s got good footwork. She had her welcome to high school soccer tonight in the jamboree. And then Rylie Petruescu came over from Maryville Christian, so I was proud of what she did. She’s a sophomore, so sometimes it’s hard, but I thought she did well.