Girls’ Soccer Looks to Improve Record

This season, the members of the girls’ varsity soccer team hopes that their record will reflect their competitive play. They plan on improving their team camaraderie and cohesiveness in order to recover from last fall’s 4-11-2 record. The girls anticipate close games against Brooks, St. Paul’s, Milton, Kimball Union, Brewster, Groton and Tabor.

“There were a couple girls that seemed very talented at prep camp, so I’m excited to see them again at tryouts.”

One of the biggest challenges for the team last year was their connectivity on the field. “We had some pretty good individual talent, but we really just could not piece it together during the games,” senior Hannah Gustafson said. She explained that in order to win more games this year, the girls will have to “have some better team chemistry” and work together during practices.

Upper Louisa Bartkovich mirrored Gustafson’s sentiments. She said, “If our team chemistry gets stronger, so will our ability to play better.” Bartkovich explained that one of the team’s goals is to have midfielders, forwards and defenders utilize the field and piece together smooth passes. She feels that this will allow them to score more often. “Too many times [last year] there would be spaces in the middle of the field where none of our players were,” she said.

Upper Samantha Weaver agreed with Bartkovich that strengthening the bond between the offense and defense would be crucial this season. “Often times as soon as the ball was cleared by the defense the ball would be turned over again right away,” she said. “I think the new recruits will help us keep the ball and control the game.”

Weaver, along with 21 other girls, attended the annual summer Team Prep Camp in Casco, Maine. The four-day event allows new students to meet and bond with returning Exonians. The girls are also joined by other prep schools as they practice twice a day for two hours each morning. In addition to this, the different schools play each other in the evening.

Co-captain and senior Grace Pratt recalled meeting her first friend at Exeter while attending the camp the summer before her prep year. “There were a couple girls that seemed very talented at prep camp, so I’m excited to see them again at tryouts,” Pratt added.

Senior Emily Ryan is hoping to see a positive change in unity not just within the team but with the coaches as well. “I think we are really excited for a season with a big senior class of girls who have been on the team for a while,” Ryan said.

Although they were not a title contender team last year, the girls managed to tie during the highly anticipated E/a games. Andover then went on to win the championship. “Anything can really happen on E/a,” Gustafson said.

Co-captain and senior Daniela Nemirovsky feels that the game against Andover is reflective of many games from last season. “We played a very competitive game, and in the case of E/a the score showed that,” she said. “I think in a lot of other games we had a similar situation, but we didn’t capitalize on our chances to make our record reflect that. Going into this season, that’s the biggest change I want to see from our team.”