Girls’ Soccer Ready to Bounce Back
After graduating ten seniors last year, the girls’ varsity soccer team, affectionately nicknamed “Soxie,” will look to open their 2017 season with fresh talent and vigor. The team hopes to improve last season’s record of 4-9-5.
The returning members of the team, led by co-captains and seniors Anna Reaman and Lauren Arkell, want to embrace this year’s newcomers. With nearly half of last year’s team graduated, Soxie will be welcoming many new players. Arkell stressed the importance of being a supportive captain and teammate. “I’m most excited to watch someone score their first varsity goal at Exeter and to see everyone improve as the seasons goes on,” she said. “Most importantly, Anna and I want to keep the morale up for the team and make sure everyone has a great season on and off the field.”
Reaman echoed Arkell’s sentiments. “As captains, we are hoping to make the soccer team one big group of friends,” she said. “With everyone getting along and being great friends the chemistry and teamwork on the field will come naturally.”
Looking back on last season, lower Dennesha Rolle pointed out that the previous year’s team was very close and had “good energy.” Despite their close friendships and obvious talent, members of the team felt they could’ve performed better in games. Reaman explained that the team could’ve secured more wins if they worked together as one unit. “We have a lot of individual talent but the challenge is putting all of our talent together as one cohesive team,” Reaman said.
In addition, in many of their close games, Soxie found themselves finishing on the wrong side. Rolle explained that these narrow losses were due to their “quality of play.” “We had some tough games due to our difficulty finishing and putting the ball in the back of the net,” she concluded. Upper Ogechi Nwankwoala added that it is important for Soxie to take more initiative during games. She stated that the team can improve by “having a scoring mentality” and controlling the pace of every game.
In these past weeks, Big Red began preparing for the season with prep camp and preseason. This provided an advantageous opportunity for the team to not only refresh soccer techniques but also for teammates to get to know each other. Reaman expressed how beneficial these sessions were for the entire team. “It will be great to head into the season already familiar and friendly with all my teammates and also a possessing a strong technical base” she said.
As a result of their frustrating last season, the team is anxious to have a rematch against some of their rival teams. Rolle expressed her excitement in playing St. Paul’s after a tough loss last year in a game she described as “a grind.” Nwankwoala is looking forward to play against Andover after a narrow loss last season. Reaman agreed with Nwankwoala, describing the team’s mutual feelings toward the highly anticipated game. “Everyone is fired up and ready to beat [Andover],” she exclaimed.
Throughout the term, Soxie will play a total of twenty games culminating with the home field match-up against Andover on E/A day. The team’s first games will be on Saturday in a jamboree at Berwick Academy. Exeter will face Berwick, Tilton and Holderness in three shortened games.