The Lady Patriots are starting off their 2013 season with ten returning seniors and over 20 freshmen, one of which has made varsity. They also face a new tactic in how they are going to tackle KingCo and state competition this year.
“I actually like [the new KingCo playoff system] this year because it doesn’t put as much pressure on us to win Kingco and win all of our games,” Johnson said. “Obviously we want to win all of our games, but if we don’t we still have a chance to be in the first round of playoffs by just getting extra games so I think it actually is better.”
The JV team has eight freshmen and over half of the C- team consists of freshmen as well. The coaches feel the freshmen’s desire to play and get better provides the energy to the team that helps them win games.
“The freshmen, they are good,” Youngdahl said. “More freshmen can form a better foundation of the team…when the freshmen come up they will be more connected and have good chemistry too.”
Freshman midfielder Laurie Willoughby plays club soccer for PAC Northwest which is the main developer of youth soccer skills in the area. Many other girls on the team either have previous experience with or are currently playing with PAC Northwest, which players hope will improve the team’s chance of success.
“I think they’ll do great. We have a lot of talent on the team, “Willoughby said.
The players are off to a successful start with the conference season this year with five wins three ties and only one loss as of October 15. Some of the top scorers for the team have been junior Sami Harrell and senior Jacquelyn Anderson who have both scored four goals.
Senior captains Kali Youngdahl and Tara Johnson are using their past experience on the liberty soccer team to be role models for the younger players on the team. Both captains believe that they will have a strong season and that there is a lot of talent in the team this year.
“I hope we do well, this year it is hard to tell, because everybody in KingCo is equal and anybody can win any game.” Youngdahl said. “I think we’ll do well because, like our coach says, we don’t want to be the best when we start out, through our first games we have wanted to get better and I think we’re doing that. We have been connecting really well lately and I think we’ll get better as time goes on.”