Girls’ soccer has unfinished business

Lily+Robertson+%2819%29+takes+a+cross+to+her+teammates.+The+Bulls+captured+a+9-0+victory+over+Franklin+High+School.

Gemma Rossi

Lily Robertson (’19) takes a cross to her teammates. The Bulls captured a 9-0 victory over Franklin High School.

Will Amos, Online Editor

Last year the varsity girls’ soccer team placed second in the state losing to River Hill High School in the finals.

The girls took this loss and are building off it this year, improving and showing that they can win this year, ranking third in the state.

“We weren’t really prepared for the game last year,” Goalie Lucy Griffin (’21) said. “We have played the tough teams now so know we know what they can do.”

“It was a learning experience for us,” Captain and Striker Lily Robertson (’19) said. “It was the first time we had been to states in 17 years, but the team is looking good this year and we have a lot of young players but we’re building off the experience we got last year.”

Coming off a successful season last year, the girls learned how to perform under pressure at high stakes games.

“The County and State Championship matches can both be intimidating,” girls’ varsity soccer Coach Brad Duvall said.

“It’s the only game of the night, so getting the experience of the pressure out of the way last year is a great advantage for us.”

The team started training at the beginning of summer and continued to do so when not playing in games.

“We ran and lifted three days a week from June until August,” Duvall said. “Our training sessions in August were tough and sometimes we would practice twice a day. Now that the season is underway we train as hard as we can during lighter areas of the schedule and pull back to stay fresh when games become more abundant.”

The team isn’t just training on the field, they work on team bonding to increase team chemistry on and off the field.

“We have been working on our team dynamic and chemistry and to get to where we were last year and even grow more,” Midfielder Anna Coleman (’19) said. “We had a team breakfast recently to help with bonding.”

The team has brought on some new faces to the team this year and the team’s focus on bonding is shown through the players.

“The girls are all really accepting,” Midfielder Hope Barber (’22) said. “At first it was hard to fit in being the only freshman, but it’s really fun now because everyone is nice.”

With new players coming in, that means that old players must leave as well, and the team took the biggest hit in the midfield this offseason.

“We lost a bunch of seniors in the midfield, which we were really strong in,” Defender Kelly Schultz (’20) said.

“Right now, we are lacking possession and wining balls in the midfield, so we have been working on that during practice.”

Last year the team won both the county and regional championships and plan on defending their titles while adding on more, the State Championship.

“We want to make it as far as we did last year and more,” Defender Laura Schmidt (’21) said. “We want to win it all.”