By Elle Everett
Photo by Elle Everett
At Willow, the girls Varsity and Junior Varsity soccer teams pride themselves on teamwork, building strong connections that carry them through each practice, game, and all the moments spent together. Many players say that some of their favorite team memories come from the time they spend together outside or games and practice.
“Pasta night last year was really fun,” sophomore Marissa Schorp said, “and getting to stop at Chik-fil-A during one of the bus trips.”
Sophomore Ela Maklansky said being a part of a team has helped her meet and connect with people she would never have expected to. “Being on a team is like building more friendships with people and being able to meet and hang out with them.”
One of the biggest bonding moments for Maklansky was also the team pasta night, which helped her to get to know fellow teammates who were strangers at the start of the season.
Outside of being good friends with each other, the team is full of talented players who are thinking about their future with the sport.
“I am thinking about playing soccer in college,” junior Lilah Matthews said. “There’s not a lot of time left in my life that I will be able to spend my time playing a game that I love, so I want to take the opportunity now that I have it.”
Not everyone feels the same way, though. “I don’t think I want to play soccer in college because I would like to focus on my studies,” said sophomore Caroline Brown.
The girls also put in the work to prepare for their matches. “We train for games in a pretty standard way,” junior Lilah Matthews says. “Leading up to big games, we usually learn how the other team typically plays and practice defending/attacking against what we assume they are going to do. We have been doing scrimmages at practice where we have the starting line up play against the formation the team we’re playing against usually plays with. This gets our team used to finding the open spaces and picking up marks.”
Soccer at Willow is more than just a season–it’s a fast-moving sport that requires full dedication and focus. Both the girls’ Varsity and Junior Varsity teams spend several days and weeks working on their basic skills, like passing, shooting, and staying in line on the field.
As the season progresses, the team shifts their main focus towards strategy, but throughout, the team remains focused on working together and supporting each other. No matter what the future holds, the experiences they’ve shared as teammates and as friends will always be a part of their Willow memories.
