The girls soccer team defeated Olathe North 5-1 Tuesday, April 2. Goals from seniors Julia Coacher and Brooke Bellehumeur as well as from junior Callista Marx and sophomore Jenna Lloyd propelled them to a win.
While the team has gotten off to a good start to the year going 3-0. They scored only three goals in their last game. Head coach Jason Pendleton worked with his athletes on certain aspects important to scoring.
“We worked on improving our spacing in the midfield and then the runs of our forwards to create more scoring chances,” Pendleton said. “We scored five goals so it would seem that that was effective.”
Senior Sam Mullen expressed that the team is using good communication and continuing to get better.
“It is only our third game, but there’s been a lot of really good ideas that we’ve been having,” Mullen said. “I think that each week we tend to get better and better with every game.”
Sophomore Sydney Nash reflected on her playing, as well as helping the team overall.
“When I do get the ball I feel like I help the team [and] I think I did a good job of finding the open players and passing,” Nash said.
While Pendleton has seen improvement, he believes there is always work to be done.
“Moving forward from this game, we will definitely concentrate on how we’re defending and playing out of the back a little bit more,” Pendleton said. “We have to be better in terms of scoring some goals off corner kicks.”
According to Pendleton, being present and prepared for each game is what helps his athletes play their best.
“We just live in the moment and concentrate on the next opponent and constantly focus on trying to become the best version of ourselves,” Pendleton said. “We’re not thinking long term and if we take care of other things in the short term, that typically will put us in a good position for the postseason.”
Mullen understands that players never know what a team is going to do so they must be prepared for every scenario.
“Even if you think that [a] team is going to play good or bad, they can change it up and take you by surprise, so you always have to be ready to play to the best of your ability,” Mullen said.
According to Pendleton, being present and prepared for each game is what helps his athletes play their best.
“We just live in the moment and concentrate on the next opponent and constantly focus on trying to become the best version of ourselves,” Pendleton said. “We’re not thinking long term and if we take care of other things in the short term, that typically will put us in a good position for the postseason.”
