If members of the Glenwood Springs High School girls soccer team need to figure the necessary trajectory for a successful corner kick this spring, they won’t have to go far.

Linda Loman, a physics teacher at GSHS, was named the new Demons girls soccer coach recently. She replaces longtime coach Steve White, who retired from high school coaching last spring.

“She’s going to bring a new enthusiasm to the program,” Glenwood Springs activities director Steve Cable said. “She’s young, she’s excited and in her interview she certainly came across as being very knowledgeable about the game.”

The soccer job is Loman’s first head coach position, but she was an assistant coach with the Demon girls tennis team last spring and is also the freshman girls basketball coach.

And soccer is her sport of choice.

“Soccer is my primary sport and the sport I love to do,” Loman said. “So when the opportunity came up I thought I would try out.”

She played for Division III Whitman College (Wash.) and her “experience as an athlete and desire to build a cohesive team that performs at a high level” will serve her well as the head of the GSHS program.

Loman lost six starters to graduation off last year’s third-place Class 4A Western Slope League squad that finished with a league mark of 8-3-1 (10-5-1 overall). Glenwood brings back five senior starters this spring, led by Class 4A all-state honorable mention sweeper Heidi Wild and goalie Keegan Nadon.

“I have a few different options as far as lineups go,” said Loman, who plans to gauge the talent before committing to a certain style. “My coaching philosophy basically is, we’re here to play soccer and anything that would distract from that isn’t what we’re all about.”

The Demon girls soccer team begins practices on Feb. 17. The regular season opens March 5.