Bethany Darwin, Staff Writer
February 10, 2012
Filed under Sports, Top Stories
Mari Chavez was out for good. The team sat on edge, until it was all over. They had lost to Wichita Falls. Tears and silence was all that was known that fateful and depressing day.
Last year girl’s varsity soccer team lost to Wichita Falls in the third round of the play offs. The only thing that they could hold on to was the hope of next year.
“That last play off game was just unbelievable,” junior Gina Williams said. “Those last few seconds we were just trying to keep them from scoring. When it was all over we realized that we had not only let ourselves down but we had also let our coach down. The only thing that really helped us get through was the fact that we knew that we would have another chance this year.”
Now the girls are back and they are ready to change that hope into a reality.
“This year we will, of course, go undefeated,” sophomore and forward player Justine Abella said. “Our goal this year is to go to playoffs again and even go to state.”
The state championship is important not only for the obvious reasons, but also it is important because of all of the hard work put into getting there.
“We have worked really hard and we deserve to go to state,” Abella said. “Right now we are playing against 5A teams, and considering we are 4A we are really good. So if we don’t make it to state this year that will be incredibly sad for us.”
Making it to state is the highest goal to have for every team out there, but it’s especially a top priority to seniors.
“State championships is what everyone works for,” captain and senior Bailey Upp said. “Being a senior and all, going to state will mean a lot to me and this is my last chance to do this.”
UIL states that a senior cannot be on JV, however, being a captain and a senior is a great honor and a great responsibility.
“The opportunity I have of making captain is incredibly fun because I like to take the lead,” captain and senior Ashley Cottrel said. “It’s good to be captain because you really set the tone for the team. You give the girls a role model to follow, but the tricky part is always setting the right example for them to follow.”
Cottrel is not the only captain that feels that it is hard to set the right example for the team.
“Having the position of captain this year is an immense honor and privilege,” Upp said. “Not only is it an honor and privilege but it is also comes with tremendous responsibility and involves a lot of commitment and dedication.”
Being captain means that when under pressure having to work hard, and giving it everything is expected. This is not only true for captains, but for the entire team.
“Pressure makes us,” Abella said. “This is the quote that is on our shirts this year. To me this quote means that the hardest games can only make us better. When we play a hard team, we not only closer as a team, but together our skills grow.”
With state being number one on everyone’s list every moment that the team takes the field, it becomes transferred into something different for the players.
“On the field it is like our stage,” Abella said. “That is where we preform, entertain, and show off our skills.”
Making it to state will take hard work. But before state there must come playoffs, and that is not easy.
“I know for a fact we will make it to playoffs,” captain and senior Mari Chavez said. “My hope though is that we go further in the play offs than we did last year. At bare minimum we will make it through three rounds of play offs. However, our team does not do bare minimum.”
Chavez should know about over exceeding the bare minimum possible.
“I am so close to breaking the district record for the amount of goals scored,” Chavez said. “Right now the district record is 59 goals, and I have 56 goals. With district just now starting, I will most definitely beat the record.”
Beating the record and setting the bar high for the girls, is not only the captain’s job and the individual girl’s job, but also the coaches job.
“The girls always work hard,” coach Kirby Davis said. “They are really good group of girls who get along very well.”
The state championship, is the ultimate prize even for Davis.
“Going to state would be a dream come true,” Davis said. “This is the best team that I have ever coached, and I am confident that the girls will continue to work hard, and not give.”
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