After making it to the semifinals of last year’s state playoffs, the La Salle girls varsity team looked a bit different after losing nine seniors.
“I feel like we’re bringing good energy. It’s a pretty young team, and we graduated a lot of players last year, so it’s just like trying to get everybody on the same page,” said co-captain and senior Brooke Wilkinson.
Since the conclusion of last season, Wilkinson has taken on the responsibilities of a leader as the team’s only senior. Wilkinson continued throughout the season to adapt to this new role of bringing motivation and experience on and off the field, while also being grateful for past captains and the work they had to do.
“It’s kind of been a lot, but it’s been good for me to learn leadership skills and stuff,” Wilkinson said. “And I didn’t really realize in the past how much they have to deal with.”
Due to the limited number of seniors on the team this past year, several freshmen had to step up to take more prominent roles. Maehle Rollins was one of these players.
Rollins has played soccer for nearly all of her life, participating in club soccer for the Eastside Thorns, where she has been a member for a while now. Rollins really enjoys playing club because of how easy-going and fun it is to play with many of her friends.
Rollins acknowledges that club soccer differs from playing for your high school in a couple ways, but most predominantly in how much commitment it requires.
“I feel like Eastside is a lot more easy going and fun, and high school soccer has been a lot more work and then fun,” Rollins said.
The high school season just ended, and the Lady Falcons finished with a league record of 5-2-1 with a league closing win against Parkrose High School 2-0. After finishing up conference play, the girls varsity soccer marched on to playoffs, ending with an unfortunate loss away against Bend High School 2-3.
Some players have credited their season’s success to the pregame hype in their team room, where they often listen to “World Cup” by IShowSpeed and receive motivational speeches from junior Greta Dazer.
“Our team room hype is really awesome,” Rollins said. “Our music pregame and also our team talks have been very inspirational.”
With recent success on the girls soccer team, past Lady Falcons have flown off to play soccer in college. The achievements of these past players have motivated current players in working both as a team and individually to follow their dreams as well.
“Their love for soccer has gone up and down, but they still play in college, and that has motivated me,” Wilkinson said.
With plenty of change on the field this year, the varsity girls soccer team is getting back to their ways of success through their teamwork and effort, looking to next season to continue that triumph.
