The girl’s soccer team is preparing for their game against Mooresville on September 10th by maintaining a united front and prioritizing teamwork. 

“Some people on the Mooresville team are very good. They do good on defense and offense. I remember that there’s a girl on the team who plays offense forward who was really quick last year. Also, a major challenge for competing against them is that many of them play travel soccer,” Senior Ava Brawley said.

When playing against a team that is good on both offense and defense, the girls team will have to remain focused in practice to get up to their level. They are doing everything they can as a team to find out Mooresville’s strengths and weaknesses when playing.

“I feel like they will have a good team this year because they were a challenge when we played against them previously,” Freshman Bryn Shotts said.

Surely, playing against experienced players will certainly be difficult for the team. However, players may have differing opinions on a certain team.

“The Mooresville team is intersexual. It should be pretty easy for us to beat them because they aren’t a leading team in our conference. Also, I would say our team is excited and ready to compete against Mooresville. We are looking forward to seeing how this season goes in general,” Sophomore Cecilia Lukins said.

With the game coming up, the girls need to focus on their training and maintaining their growing bond. They have been working on an encouraging team mindset towards games. 

“I think we are all pretty optimistic leading up to the first game. We are still working, but most of the team believes we could win often this season if we keep up our hard work,” Junior Lila Thompson said.

After consistent practices all summer, the girls are training for their 2025 season. They have been determined to improve as a team this season. Thompson, midfielder, explained what practices have looked like.

“Usually, we start with a short warm-up and then we start a half lap around the field to get our heart rates up. At the end of our practices, we usually do short scrimmages to practice common game scenarios,” Thompson said.

Lukins, right wing, is playing on the team for the first time this year. 

“We’ve been doing a lot of passing drills during practice. Also, a huge focus this year so far has been teamwork,” Lukins said.

Practicing drills like this will help them properly prepare for games. Teamwork being a huge focus will set them up for a supportive environment, which is always key on sports teams. Freshman Bryn Shotts, right wing, explained the struggles of getting used to working with a new team. 

“It’s definitely harder to be on the high school team because they all know each other better and have already had chances to connect,” Shotts said.

With unity growing between the teammates, they have learned to support each other for the sake of the team. Brawley is excited to see how her last season with the team will pan out.

“My last season has been going really well so far. All of us have been bonding, and it’s been very drama-free. We have a really young team, so getting them to step-up has been an important focus for the older girls,” Brawley said.