The Lady Wildcats have their minds set on goals- long term, short term, and game-winning ones as the season kicks off.
All players also have their minds set on personal goals.
“I just want to score more goals than I did last season,” Kearney said. “I played defense for half the year, so I’m hoping to stay up forward this whole season and improve my game from last year.”
While some look for more wins, goal scoring opportunities, and improved ball skills, others such as center midfielder Alyssa Marroquin, junior, hope to be recruited for collegiate soccer.
The girls’ soccer team has been preparing since early winter, when the indoor season started.
“They’ve been doing what’s necessary to get ready,” Coach Kenneth Schoen said. “They’re in the winter league, and there’s been open gyms, so I’m expecting good things from them this year.”
Additionally, most girls on the team practice on their own time at home or with their club teams. However, a lot of work still must be put in to be ready.
“There’s a lot of preparation before we get into the season,” Schoen said. “Obviously you’re not going to be playing your best soccer when nothing happens, but we can make adjustments and see what we need to work on in preparation of the season.”
The team hopes this year brings more players, as last year the program struggled to find enough girls for a JV roster and had multiple injuries among the varsity team. Both coach and players realize however, that the transition from last year’s team to this upcoming roster will be difficult.
“We lost Erin [Graefen] and Kate [Rukujzo] last year and I’m not sure we have any seniors coming back to play this year, so we’re going to have a really young team, and we’re going to have to learn how to play with each other,” forward Katie Kearney, junior, said. “It’s going to be a difficult adjustment, but I’m sure we will be able to get through it.”
This year’s freshmen group is anticipated to hold the majority over the other grades on the roster and Schoen says that the numbers at open gyms are the best he’s seen in all his years coaching here.
Even though most of the freshmen don’t know most of the upperclassmen and vice versa, the team is said to be getting along well together.
“It’s very family-oriented; we do a lot of team dinners and team bonding. It’s a lot of fun to be a part of and the girls have a lot of best friends that were on the team last year,” Kearney said. “We’re friends on and off the field,” junior Ashley Jesionowski, forward, said.
“This season is going to be a fun and exciting one,” center back Tiana Etienne, junior, said.