Addie Conway
Staff Writer
St. Louis area, has good soccer teams, and this year, the Webster Groves women’s soccer team, hopes to beat them all.
Last year (the 2009-2010 season), the women’s soccer program won the most games (17) in the program’s history. This year, it wants to break that record.
“We want to move forward and not take a step back,” said Chris Allen varsity soccer coach. “Our district is one of the toughest in the state, if not the nation. There’s St. Josephs Academy, Ursaline (which just signed 10 college players) Nerinx, Kirkwood (who we haven’t beat in 10 years) and Ladue (who last year, we won one game against and lost one game to.)”
This year, the three captains are seniors Annie Paloucek and Sara Kerr and junior Jessie Perry.
“Everyone looks up to you [when you’re a captain],” said Perry. “I have to be one of the leaders, make sure people come to practice and tell everyone what to do. We also organize fundraisers. It’s hard but fun.”
“It’s a privilege,” said Paloucek. “We meet in the morning and do a lot of things outside the soccer season.”
“We’re hoping to have a winning season this year,” said Kerr. “We go to a very hard conference; we host an indoor tournament during the winter [on Martin Luther King Jr Day], and also host a tournament with Ladue and Clayton. We organize the pre-season workouts, get the gear, work the summer camps and also get the clothing.”
“Practices start Feb. 28,” said Jerry Collins, activities director. “There will be at least two levels for sure [JV and Varsity]; though, if enough freshmen try out, there could be a freshmen team as well.”
In order to prepare for the season, the women’s soccer team has open gyms where scrimmages takes place on Mondays, hard early morning conditioning on Tuesdays and Thursdays which take place in the weight room, fitness testing, running and team bonding, throughout the entire off season.
“If you are coming out of soccer, then you have to be serious about it,” said Allen. “We don’t want to dilute the talent pool though, by not giving freshmen a chance to play on JV or varsity. This year we only have two seniors, so our team will be very young, yet talented.”
“Both varsity and JV have their first game on March 18,” continued Collins. “Varsity is at home and JV is away. They will both be against Fox.”
Varsity will also go to Tulsa, OK over spring break for the “Charger Cup” tournament, which is very similar to the Denver, CO spring break trip in 2010. The team will be playing at least four games in a very short time span.
“It’s a very prestigious tournament,” said Allen. “It lasts five days, and we play the top teams in Oklahoma, and the girls always have fun. “
“Last year [during the Colorado trip] we played in four inches of snow during a blizzard,” continued Perry. “It was really cold. We stayed in a hotel, where we got to be in rooms with each other, and it was fun to be with the team. We went to movies and played go-karts.”
“I’ve played soccer since I was little,” said Abbey Pokorny, sophomore. “It’s my favorite sport. It’s fun; there’s a sense of being a team and a family. We’re said to be the youngest team in the district, due to having lost 11 seniors last year, but as long as we work hard, focus, be positive and people put in effort, then I’m confident we’ll be okay.”
“You’re part of the group, and all the girls are really nice. You also get in shape, and there’s unity among the team,” continued Pokorny. “If you don’t have a sport, you should try it.”
