As springtime rolls around, so does the start of spring sports. With the DHS girls soccer team starting their season in just a few weeks, the ladies prepare for their opening games by practicing on the Midland Civic Arena’s turf field. The players take part in conditioning as well two to three times a week, doing a combination of running, strengthening and flexibility.
With the varsity team only containing 15 players this year, the girls prepare for a tough season ahead. Senior Mackenzie Wetekamp discusses what she is looking forward to in her last season of DHS girls soccer.
“Every year, we start workouts in January, doing them twice or three times a week,” Wetekamp said. “We do a lot of conditioning, and the Midland Civic Arena is where we get a field to practices. It’s my season year, so I’m excited to start. We have a few new girls on the team, too, so it will be fun to play with them.”
Another factor concerning the performance of the team is the lack of players. Losing a number of seniors last year, the team is faced with the decision of taking players from junior varsity or sticking with the low numbers. Either way, the girls will have to work their hardest to stay on top.
Junior Maya Piper is entering her third year as a varsity soccer player. She speaks for the team when she says they expect to win all of their games, in hopes of achieving the SVL championship title. In fact, the girls will spend their whole season preparing for the games that they will face in Districts, Regionals and eventually States. The girls will play a series of games for sudden death, where one loss results in the end of the season for the team. In the past two years, the girls have made it past the first round of Districts.
“I always look forward to District and Regional play, because we get a lot of community support,” Piper said. “It’s nice because you are playing for a trophy and to accomplish your goal.”
Junior Karissa Larue, who was put on varsity this year for the first time, is thrilled for the upcoming season and is glad her hard work paid off.
“I definitely put more effort into tryouts and gave it my all,” Larue said. “I went to the majority of the conditionings before the tryouts compared to last year.”
Larue also said how excited she is for the season to come, and the treatment she has received from the returning varsity girls.
“I’m looking forward to becoming a better player and bonding with the team,” Larue said. “For the most part it’s been good because I’m friends with a lot of them and I’ve been playing with them since I was little, but it can be kind of intimidating.”
New and old, all varsity girls soccer players look forward to a great season with exciting experiences, and, hopefully, an SVL title.
