Young stars, higher hopes

Times Reporter   

 

The Strathmore High School (SHS) girls soccer team made their final cuts on Sept. 4, and are hoping for a more successful season than 2012, where they were winless through five games.

“It was a building year, for sure. We had some players that had never played sports before, never mind soccer,” said Coach Roz Goldsmith, who is coaching again this year with Kaitrin McDonnell. “We did a lot of basic work.”

Five players on the team have competed since Grade 10; roughly 17 girls were at the final tryout, and Goldsmith hoped for the team numbers to stay in that range.

“If we can keep it high, we’ll keep it high, but it depends on the commitment levels of the girls,” she said. The team is competing with volleyball for students’ interest.

“We have some good Grade 11’s and Grade 12’s who I think put the word out, because they really wanted to play again, and just getting out there with some social media.” 

The team posted messages on the school’s website and Facebook page to encourage more girls to bring their best to tryouts.

“We hadn’t had a team for a couple years, the interest had kind of died down,” Goldsmith said. “So this year is an improvement, hopefully we can compete a little bit better.”

McDonnell, who has a soccer background, will be working on passing and conditioning before the team’s first game on Sept. 19.

“Positioning will be huge, and a little bit more of team building so they get a little more familiar with each other. We have a lot of young players, which is a really big bonus, so we’re hoping that we can improve quite a bit this year,” Goldsmith said. “Our Grade 10’s, we have quite a few who have played before, so we’re hoping that positioning doesn’t take up a lot of time – but positioning and endurance is what we’re really working on.”

Come cheer on the Spartans on Sept. 19 at 4 p.m. against Foothills at SHS.