Rain beat down upon the two senior and 16 underclassmen players in the last 42 seconds of the game against Lawrence Free State on Monday, Oct. 17. After a quick break away, sophomore Davis Cantwell ran downfield with the ball and took a shot in an attempt to tie the game, but missed. A groan from the crowd ensued as Free State scored another goal, ending the game 2-0.

Because the team comprised of a majority of young players, most of which with no previous varsity experience, many predicted a tough season with losses like this.

“This season has gone a lot better than I thought it was going to because we were a really young team,” sophomore central midfielder Jack Lopez said. “We’ve shown up to games and played really hard and actually won.”

Forced to overcome a variety of challenges, the young players improved over the course of the season. Players like freshman right defender Bailey Weeks worked both mentally and physically to overcome their size to achieve success.

“[Varsity players] are stronger and the play level is more intense,” Weeks said. “I didn’t let them intimidate me because I pushed them around like they did me. I didn’t let them get to my head and had my teammates that were bigger help me.”

Junior Isaiah Gum helped the team by playing four different positions throughout the season: center midfielder, forward, stopper and outside defense.

“You could put [Gum] in any position and he would be successful,” head coach Arlan Vomhof said. “He will do anything you ask him to do. He’s very fast and very tenacious.”

Gum attributed his success to one question, however.

“I kept asking myself if I was making a difference, and if I wasn’t, I would try harder,” Gum said.

Along with the new defensive talent, players on offense aided the team in its 11-5-1 season. Lopez scored the winning goal in three games and had two game-winning assists during the season.

“If there was a job that needed to get done, [Lopez] was there,” Vomhof said. “He was probably one of the hardest workers on the team.”

What seemed like a disadvantage at the beginning of the season, the team’s youth and lack of varsity experience turned into an advantage, according to Weeks.

“We had nothing to lose and so we just tried to work our hardest,” Weeks said. “We played games and got better and better so it didn’t affect us after a while.”