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Girls Varsity Soccer Season Preview
Following an excellent 2015 season, which saw the Girls Varsity soccer team narrowly defeated in the final of both the FAA Championship and the New England tournament, GVS are hoping they can go one better this time around. After losing two of their opening three games of the last campaign the team went on a thirteen-game winning streak finishing the season with a record of 16-4-0.
Head Coach Dan Clarke* knows the expectations are high and was a little cautious when talking about the team's’ chances. He said, “We know things are going to be tough, they always are in this league, but I trust this group of players and believe we can challenge again for both the FAA’s and New England’s.”
Despite only graduating four seniors, there will be a new look to the Storm for the fall and Clarke believes the key will be how quickly this new group can gel: “We have a lot of girls not returning, for various reasons, which is hard. We need to fill the gaps created by that and make sure we get used to playing as a team very quickly. Our captains Caitlyn Conetta ‘17, Seena Panagiotidis ‘17, Natalie Bachman ‘17 and Caroline Thompson ‘18 need to help with this but we are also looking for our other upperclassmen, Kelly McKenna ‘17, Brittany Barton ‘17, Alexa Karp ‘17, Georgia Nelson ‘17, Thaise Sudano ‘18 and Elizabeth Laub ‘18 to really take on leadership roles too. We want leaders all over the field and I am confident these girls will give us that.”
As well as many new faces on the team, there is also a change to the coaching staff with Susan Garnett replacing Clarke’s long term assistant coach David Hirx, “We are all going to miss Buzz being around”, Clarke said referencing Hirx, “but Susan brings a wealth of knowledge and a new dynamic to the group which I think are going to be great.”
Clarke thinks his team has prepared well stating, “The girls have been working tremendously hard and there is a great camaraderie within the group. We always emphasize the team dynamic season after season, so hopefully we continue to see this.”
The Girls Varsity Soccer team traveled to The MacDuffie School for their first game of the season on 9/17 and were narrowly defeated 3-2. They will be looking to bounce back Monday afternoon (9/19) against Hopkins and Wednesday 9/21 vs Taft. Both games are at home at 4.15pm.
*Full disclosure: Coach Dan Clarke is my alter ego.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 40 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Leading with Humanity curriculum builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
