STATE CHAMPIONS!!!
No matter how many times I hear it, how many times I read it, or how many times I say it....it just doesnt seem real....but IT IS!!! The girls won it all!
Lisa and I have had many conversations about the Souhegan girls soccer program. Some say that we are obsessed and some say crazy with the way that we coach the team. We tell the girls that when they become part of the team, that it is really more than that....they have become part of a culture.
We certainly spend alot of time working on the XXXX's and OOOO's of the game in all aspects. The technical, tactical, and physical parts of training are pretty straight forward. We encourage ( or demand ) the girls to continually work hard in practice to hone their individual skills, and team skills. Like anything, there are good days and bad days, but we work through it and hope to see the results on game day. The real difference with our group is that we try to make it a family. We spend lots of time working on the psychological part of training. Over the years coaching high school girls, and club teams, the key to success seems to be anchored in team chemistry. Every player needs to understand that they are part of something bigger than themselves and that everything they do has an impact on the group. I suppose this is more of a life lesson that it is soccer only, but in the high school environment, isnt that what it is about?
The hard part with this approach is that sometimes the consistant hard work does not show an immediate result. In 2010, we had a great team, filled with skilled players. Each girl sacrificed for the team, each girl worked hard for 10 weeks, yet we lost a tough 2 OT match in the semi-final round of the playoffs. The 2011 squad came into the season on a mission. Our team mantra has been "ROBBED...GET IT BACK" and "NEXT".
The "ROBBED" refers to the feeling that we put in all the work last year, but were robbed of the reward at the end, so we wanted to "GET IT BACK" in the semi-finals. The "NEXT" refers to we always wanted to make it to the NEXT game, especially the NEXT game after we GOT IT BACK in the semi-finals.
This year's team spent all year focused on their goal. We made it very clear that hard work was the only acceptable behavior. We would never give up, and fight to the end. As we entered the playoff season, this attitude became very clear.
Quarterfinals vs. John Stark....This game was an extremely hard fought match. It was cold and started to snow with about 15 minutes to go. The play was back and forth all game, and it seemed destined to go to overtime. Despite the weather conditions, and growing frustration, the girls kept fighting. The effort paid off when with about 2 minutes left in regulation, Caroline Stone received a well played pass, went hard at the goal and threaded a well placed shot past the John Stark keeper for the victory.
Semi-finals vs Bedford....After a postponement due to a snowstorm, we met a tough Bedford team at Southern NH University. The pregame speech was about tactics and heart. We took the field and battled to a 0-0 halftime score. The halftime speech was a bit direct as I felt that we were letting ourselves down on the pitch. We were not doing the things that we had decided necessary to win. Bedford scored early in the second half and carried a 1-0 lead for the next 39 minutes. We kept consistant pressure on the Bedford net but were unable to penetrate their defense. With 13 seconds to go on the official clock, Peyton Kent collected a call and without delay knocked it into the goal. We were literally within 13 seconds of our season ending when Peyton's goal gave us a new life. A little under 2 minutes into the first OT, we were awarded a direct kick. Shelby Belak stepped up with confidence to take the kick and knocked a ball over the defense and onto the foot of Cara Griffith who rolled it into the net for the score. The team played for officially 81:37....79:47 of those minutes we could not score, and then scored twice within 110 seconds to secure the win!
Championship Match...a nice sunny day...perfect soccer weather. Turn back the clock to the early days of Souhegan Soccer....Souhegan vs Hanover in the State Championship match. We lost to Hanover in OT earlier in the year for our only home loss. Our pregame speeches today did not talk about tactics or technical needs...we talked about desire, determination, and again the heart it would take to be a champion.
We took the lead near the end of the first half when Peyton Kent's pass found Maddy Learned. Maddy took a quick touch and rifled it past the Hanover keeper. Mikaela Sullivan came up huge in net when she made an unbelievable diving save to prevent what looked like a sure Hanover score. 1-0 at halftime....definitely not something to take comfort in as Hanover would certainly come out on fire. As predicted Hanover came out strong and equalized about 10 minutes into the second half. The remainder of regulation time was a back and forth battle with us seeing a couple chances but not able to score. The first OT period was intense with Hanover putting some serious pressure on our backs. Shelby Belak was stellar in not only directing our entire defensive unit but in actually tracking down and closing off some scary Hanover attempts at our goal. As we attacked the Hanover net, our tenacity seemed to be gaining steam. We were awarded a direct kick when we were tripped just outside the Hanover penalty area. Peyton Kent stepped up and calmly prepped the ball. One last look at goal and she kicked....as she puts it "just like we had done many times in practice". The ball sailed perfectly just above the outstretched hands of the Hanover keeper, and just below the crossbar....GOALLLLLLLL....WE WON!!!!! STATE CHAMPIONS!!!
Wow...what a feeling. 3 months of hard work for this season, years of hard work for individual players...and now a dream is realized. The most impressive part is every girl believed in the dream and worked hard to make it come true.....does it get any better than that.....I dont think so..
Thanks to a very special group of girls:
Senior Captains...Shelby Belak, Ashley Ireland, Erin Macdonald, Caroline Stone
Juniors: Agi Chretien, Sara Christensen, Morgan Ireland, Olivia Lepage, Audrey Wesson
Sophomores: Taylor Behn, Xan Clark, Shannon Disco, Jocelyn Donohue, Korina Hahn, Peyton Kent,
Maddy Learned,Caroline Schagrin, Mikaela Sullivan,
Freshman who joined us for the playoffs: Meghan Camello, Cara Griffith, Sara Lafluer
Congratulations to the girls!!!! YOU DID IT!!!
Dwayne
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