Before the first five minutes of the Girls soccer season had passed, the Maples were already on top after junior Cydney Nagridge whizzed a ball past Andover’s goalkeeper.
The girls continued to play a strong first half, finishing it off with a series of failed crosses. The Maples then kept attacking in the second half until Andover slipped a ball behind the defense and past freshman goalkeeper Lisa White. The game was tied 1-1.
“They just caught us out [of position],” said coach Jamie Tyers. “We couldn’t recover quickly enough at the back.”
After mounting numerous attacks on Andover’s side of the field, the Maples appeared to score when a corner kick hit the netting of the goal and bounced out. But no such luck for the girls as the referees let play continue.
“Everybody thought we scored a second goal except for the official,” said Tyers.
The game ended in a 1-1 tie for the Maples, who fell to the Farmington Falcons 3-0 the following night.
After returning only nine players, and losing 10, from last season’s league championship team, Tyers expects to hit some speed bumps during the season.
Moving up a division will challenge the girls further. Last year. The Oakland Athletic Association (OAA) was split into three divisions. However, this year the OAA combined these divisions into just two.
“It’s going to be tough,” said Tyers. “We’re in a higher division, playing the bigger schools.”
This does not mean that the girls are waving the white flag. In fact, just the opposite is happening, as they are finding motivation in this new challenge.
“We are playing a lot of tough teams this season that we haven’t played in the past,” said senior Hallie Taylor. “So we will have to work really hard.”
Even the new players seem to understand this mentality.
“No matter what, we will continue to work hard and I think we will be successful this season,” said White.
However, this attitude cannot offset losing such a large percentage of last year’s team. With so many new faces on the team, communication is going to be fuzzy for the early part of the season. Once the girls improve their chemistry, their on-the-field game will improve.
Senior midfielder Audra Artzberger recognizes this. “We need to communicate more,” Artzberger said. “It’s kind of difficult to tell because it’s early in the season, but we need to communicate more and build more of a team unity.”
With so many new faces some teams might encounter a lack of cohesiveness between the players. Luckily for the Maples, this is not the case.
“Everyone on the team gets along which has a positive impact on the field,” said Taylor.
No face is newer than goalkeeper Lisa White.
“Lisa has a good opportunity to grow as a freshman on varsity,” said Tyers.
White started playing soccer at the age of five, joining her first travel team at eight years old, and has not looked back since. Not even when Tyers approached her about playing on varsity.
“I was so surprised when the coach asked me if I thought I could handle it,” said White. “It has been such a great and rewarding experience so far.”
As the goalkeeper for the Maples, White has the best view of the game, enabling her to give instructions to the rest of the team. However, she is still searching for this voice.
“I would like to work on my punting and communication with the rest of the team. It is very important that I communicate with the team because I can see the field better than anyone else,” said White.
Just as she can see her teammates better than anyone, no one can see White better than her teammates. Before her first game against Andover, her teammates noticed the nervousness in White.
“Before the first game against Andover, I was so nervous,” said White. “My team really helped and they told me that I had nothing to be nervous about. They were really nice about it.”
As White continues to adapt to her role on the team and turn up the volume out on the field, look for the Maples to improve.
