Europe has come to the Warren Central boys soccer team.

Three foreign-exchange students from Europe have joined returning Vicksburg Post Player of the Year, Eric Chappell, to give the Vikings a formidable mid-line for the 2009 season. The Vikings got off to an impressive start Saturday with a pair of 4-0 wins over Columbus and the Mississippi School for Math and Science at the Columbus High School Classic kickoff.

WC coach Greg Head said the new additions have definitely helped as the Vikings look to improve on last year’s 9-9-1 record.

“We definitely have some more scoring options than just Eric,” Head said. “We picked up three foreign exchange students and they should make a big impact. All three of them can play. Teams won’t be able to key on Eric all the time.”

Making things easier for Chappell are the Euro crew of Tim Hoeptner of Germany, Robert Langeland of Norway and Jacob Pettersson of Sweden. All three are seniors and will join Chappell in the midfield attack for the Vikings.

“They have such good knowledge of the game. Tim has been hurt, but he should be ready, soon. With them and a big junior class, we should be all right,” Head said.

Chappell heads an 11-man junior class. Wade Barfield and G-mal Brinnion are keepers while Jared Lanier, Ethan Massey, Chris McRaney and Robert Tedder key the defense. Matt Waddle, Buddy Cook and Tre Wilson are forwards. The other three Viking seniors are Caleb Hollingsworth, Austin Hopkins and Kolby Porter.

Lady Vikes coach Janet McMaster is hoping her team can fare better in close matches this season. All but two of WC’s matches against the area’s best were decided by a goal or were tied. The Lady Vikes finished 7-9-4.

“It seemed like every game was 1-0 last year. We were hanging in there every time against some strong teams like Terry, Northwest Rankin and Clinton. Terry beat us 3-1 and Northwest beat us 2-0 and those were the only two games that weren’t 1-0 with the exception of a couple of division games with Greenville,” McMaster said.

The Lady Vikes, like the boys, got off to a good start. They beat Tupelo 2-0 and MSMS 4-0.

The WC girls have one of their youngest teams with just three seniors and one junior. The team will start four ninth graders.

“It’s still a young team, but they are in the best shape at a start of a season since I’ve been here,” McMaster said.

Junior Chelsea Duett is the top returning scorer for the Lady Vikes. She will be joined by sixth-year player and senior Dana Warnock and fifth-year player and senior Kayla Kelly. The freshmen crew for WC includes keeper Jazmine Walker and midfielders Lindsey Barfield, Victoria Danzcyk and Katie Humphries. Barfield scored in both wins Saturday in Columbus.

The Lady Vikes return three sophomore starters. Lindsey Burris, had a goal in the Tupelo game.  Shannon Richter and Mallory Reynolds also are back.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com