LAGRANGE – After being a part of so many winning soccer teams at LaGrange High, it was a difficult transition for Qua Tucker.

During his freshman season at LaGrange College, Tucker was a member of a team that posted a 3-14 record.

Tucker is hopeful there are better times ahead, and he believes there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic.

The 2015 LaGrange College team was a young one.

Most of the key players, including Tucker, were either freshmen or sophomores, and those players will be back this fall to try to lead the Panthers to more success.

Tucker, who is helping out this week during LaGrange High coach Keita Placide’s youth soccer team, is eager to get the season started and hopefully put a bunch of wins on the board.

“I’m so excited,” Tucker said. “My first year, at any given time, we had about eight or nine freshmen on the field. You can sometimes get by with that in high school, but in college, it’s a whole different game. So we took some whoopings, but we’re ready for next year.”

Tucker, who was a successful soccer player and wrestler at LaGrange High, stepped in and got a lot of playing time last season.

Tucker played in 13 games with 10 starts, and he took six shots on goal, although none of them found the back of the net.

While it was a tough season, LaGrange College did win two of its final four games, and it closed the season with a 1-0 victory over Huntingdon College.

Tucker said third-year coach Matthew Evans is looking to build a winning program at LaGrange College, which was why he focused on getting so many of the younger players significant time on the field last season.

“I feel we’re doing that,” Tucker said of getting the program headed in the right direction. “I feel like we’re going to have a really good year.”

LaGrange College will open its season on Sept. 1 with a home game against Sewanee.

Reach Kevin Eckleberry at (706) 884-7311 or on Twitter @lagrangesports