With COVID-19, many sports were worried if they were even going to have a season. In the end, they were all cleared to play and the girls soccer team was on their way to having one of their best seasons.  

They had to face many new changes with the guidelines set before them. It was a very different experience than what they have seen before. 

“Things were very odd. We weren’t able to practice with both JV and Varsity at the same time,” senior Lauren Carter said. “Which was sad because I always enjoyed practicing at the same time.”

Along with not practicing together, players had to get used to wearing a mask into and out of practice along with wearing them on the sidelines. 

“COVID-19 precautions and restrictions definitely played a large part on this season being different from others,” sophomore Evelyn Parr said. “With a limited amount of spectators and wearing masks anytime you’re not on the field, these rules definitely made the season feel different.”

The team also missed out on opportunities to bring them together outside of practices. 

“Also with team bonding, COVID made it difficult because usually we try to do different team bonding activities throughout the season to make our connection and chemistry better,” Carter said. 

Even though they did not have opportunities to work on making their connection and chemistry better, they still were able to grow as a team to the best of their ability during practices. 

“Last season we had a lot of injured players, so it was great to have a lot of them back,” junior Mia Lowry said. “And we beat Green for the very first time this season.”

They have gained many strengths this season for them to accomplish beating teams they would not have before, like Green. 

“This season we had more trust and we knew how everybody played and their strengths and weaknesses,” junior Rianna Schweikart said. “This allowed us to be able to play different formations that would better suit the game conditions and still be successful.”

“We were being a team and started out this season strong and undefeated,” Lowry said. 

While they started out strong, the team ended this season with a record of 8-5-2 while last year they ended with a record of 6-10-1. The girls were knocked out in the first round of playoffs against Solon. 

Even still, the girls are proud of the season they were able to have. 

“I thought it went very well especially at the very beginning,” Parr said. “I felt like we lost a little bit of our spark at the end but I’m extremely proud of our girls.”

While they may have lost some of their spark, they continued to put in hard work till the very end. 

“I think that the season went very well,” Carter said. “We had good games and some bad ones but overall we played very hard against all the teams and put in so much effort towards getting better this season. We all worked hard and played together as a family.”

With everything going on in the world with COVID-19, the girls were still able to have a somewhat normal season and even grew to become a better team than last year.