The Varsity Girls Soccer team kicked off their 2009 season with a bang, last Tuesday with a 2-0 win over Ferndale. The Maples capitalized quickly with a goal from senior forward Eden Cooney early in the first half and another only minutes later by junior midfielder Hailey Taylor.
“We played pretty well in the first half” explained senior captain Haley Silver, “but in the second half we didn’t really play well, we didn’t hold onto the ball very well”
“We were very happy that it was 2-0,” assistant coach Ron Notarainni explains, “it was the first game of the season and you always have to work out some kinks.”
The Maples next game, just two days later, was against the very competitive Stoney Creek Cougars which ended in a 1-1 tie.
Eden Cooney scored late in the first half, but the Cougars came back aggressive in the second half and scored seven minutes in, but the Cougars continued to attack until the final whistle.
With 15 minutes left Stoney Creek was barely denied a goal when senior goaltender Julia Rivera made an improbable save.
“It was a very aggressive game, but we held our own against a really good team,” Junior midfielder Bridget Laverty explains
“Both teams played very physically,” Notarainni told the Highlander. “We had four injuries.”
Injuries included a back injury to Bridget Laverty, three ankle injuries, and a concussion to junior Aidan Keenan, who landed on her head after her legs were taken out from her when she went to head the ball.
The Maples are off to much stronger start than last year after having a less than perfect season.
“We didn’t do as well as we we’re supposed to,” said senior captain Jackie Wojewoda.
The team finished last season with a 5-8-5 record, losing to cross town rival Lahser in the District Playoffs.
“We didn’t work very well as a team,” said senior defender Lizzie Grobbel. “We’re supposed to do better this year.”
The girls’ soccer team has many positive things going for them this year. First, they only lost three seniors last year; Afton Delvecchio, Danielle Mueller, and Leeann Laverty.
“Afton was hurt most of last season too,” said Wojewoda.
Although they only lost three players, the varsity team now has about 20 players.
“[The team is] much larger than previous years,” Wojewoda added.
The new additions include Eden Cooney, who scored the first goal of the season, and freshman Julie Naski, who is the younger brother of Nick Naski, one of the top players on the boys soccer team.
Although the Maples have made many positive changes this season they have been weighed down by injuries. “Sara Seiler tore her ACL,” said Grobbel. “She was on of our starters.”
“We’ve had a couple minor injuries this year so its good that we have such a big team,” Wojewoda added.
Another new addition to the team is Head Coach Jamie Tyres.
“He’s played professional [soccer] and knows a lot about the game and I think he’s really helped,” Wojewoda said.
“He’s teaching us tactics which we didn’t get much of last year,” added Grobbel.
The Maples have been working hard in practice but also in the preseason.
“We’ve been working a lot on fitness,” junior midfielder Hallie Taylor said. “We’ve been running a lot; a lot of interval training.”
The team also has also been able to hold practices, and play games this winter. “We had practices on Mondays at Ultimate Soccer [Pontiac] and games on Friday,” Wojewoda told the Highlander.
“We have gotten a lot of playing time,” adds Grobbel.
In the regular season the focus has mainly been on ball control.
“We’ve been warming up with a ball this season to work on this,” said Wojewoda
“We’ve mostly been working on our shape of play, and learning how to move the ball around,”said Silver. “We’re working on not being a typical kick ball high school team.”
With such a strong returning team and so much extra work put into this season, the maples have high expectations this year. Both Silver and Wojewoda agree that the ultimate goal is to “win districts."
“We want to start out strong,” Wojewoda told the Highlander. “If we start out with wins, we will start out with momentum and hopefully that will carry us through the season.”
“It’s important that we beat crucial teams like Groves and Marian,” said Silver.
“To achieve these goals we need a lot of communication on the field and to work well as a team,” said Wojewoda. “We just need to mesh well.”
The Maples had their first game against last year’s state runner up Lahser at Maple Field, April 2nd at 7:00 P.M.
The Highlander went to press before the game was finished.
