Girls' Soccer Squad Ready, Optimistic for '14 Season

Coming off a disappointing 5-11-2 season, Exeter’s girls varsity soccer team is looking to this fall in order to display their young talent. In 2013, the team had three more preps than seniors. Now, with a full season under the younglings’ belts, there is no doubt that they will be feared by many this season.

Last year, several things hindered their way to a winning record. First, the team suffered several injuries to key players early on in the season. This definitely affected the team chemistry because of such an early hindrance. Despite this, the team was able to regroup and bring a strong finish to the 2013 season, winning four out of their last seven matches.

Although losing the ‘14 players will be tough, this may give younger players an opportunity to step up. “We lost some key players in the midfield, but we have girls who are more than capable of stepping up, so we hope to see that this year,” captain and upper Michaela Streep said.

This fall, the team hopes to build on the momentum from the end of last season. Streep predicts that due to the chemistry of a more experienced team, this year will be a greater success than last year. “We have built a solid group, and I feel like our chemistry is good, and this year it'll get even better,” she said. “What's great is that we have a group of hard workers who have worked hard in practice and will continue to do so. This year, all that work will pay off on the field.”

The girls hope that all of their hard work will ultimately contribute to their main goal—beating Andover. Upper Hailey Hudson believes that they have what it takes to beat Big Blue this season. “I think a major goal for this season would definitely be to beat Andover,” she said. “We have tied them the past two seasons, and we are ready to come out with a win!”

But in order to complete this task, the team knows that certain things need to be improved on from last season. Although the extra experience will surely help, more work will need to be done tactically to help them beat other teams. “[Last year,] we didn't have a strong attack,” Streep said. “We had a lot of talent in the midfield and back on defense, but we needed more players who were comfortable playing attack.” With the lack of offensive power, the team wasn’t able to get enough shots on goal, preventing them from scoring.

Hudson agreed, mentioning that the lack of shots on goal was indeed the issue that thwarted some of their possible successes. “We need to work on being able to keep possession and work up the field and get more shooting opportunities,” she said.

In addition to beating Andover, the team has made playoffs a goal. Captain and upper Jacie Lemos understands the difficulty of the task, yet believes that the team has a shot in completing this goal.  “As for playoffs, it's been a while since our soccer team has made them, but I think we might have what it takes this year.”

With these goals set for the young, up-and-coming girls’ varsity soccer squad, the future looks bright for the 2014-2015 season. ​