Andalusia’s soccer team is gearing up for one team at the moment — Houston Academy.

The newly formed team will hit the field on Tues., Feb. 28, for its first match against the Raiders at the Dwight Mikel Athletic Complex.

Despite the weather, Bulldogs coach Tim Ramsden, a native of England and former high school soccer coach, said practice has gone well.

“I’m liking quite a lot of what I’m seeing,” Ramsden said. “We do have a lot of younger players because there are several middle schoolers and several girls that need to get some experience under their belt.”

One great aspect of the team Ramsden said he’s seen right now is that all players — 21 of them — are excited about playing.

“Everybody is very, very enthusiastic right now,” he said. “So, that’s a good thing. Things are going pretty good right now.”

Andalusia’s soccer team will be a co-ed — 16 boys, five girls — team during the short season, where the Bulldogs will play Houston Academy once and Charles Henderson on March 9 and 28.

Ramsden said the team has a “pretty good” defensive unit.

“Defensively, we look like we could be quite strong,” he said.

On the offensive side, it’s a work-in-progress, Ramsden said.

During games, the Bulldogs will play a full 80-minute game with two 40-minute halves.

Conditioning-wise, Ramsden said the players do all of their work outs off the field and on their own.

“They have been instructed to do as much off the field by themselves conditioning as possible,” he said. “We are doing on the field conditioning, but unfortunately, there is just not enough time to do that.”

He added that the players seem to be in good shape.

“The conditioning has been quite high right now,” Ramsden said. “I’ve been quite pleased with that so far.”

Right now though, Ramsden said each player is competing to be a part of the starting 11 that will take the field for the first time in school history against Houston Academy.

“That’s what we’re gearing up for,” he said.