As the Missouri weather finally warms up, the Bruin girls soccer team is fired up for a long season ahead. But today’s game at 179 Soccer Park in Jefferson City against Helias High School, although well-fought, resulted in a Kewpie 2-1 win. Senior Breta Phillips, who watched her teammates play from the sidelines, said she thought today’s game did not reflect the team’s full potential, and was just an unlucky day for the girls.
“Today was not a very good exposition of our skills at all. Our team is made up of a lot of individually amazing players but it was only our third game as a team, and we are still learning to work together as a unit,” Phillips said.”I have a lot of anticipation for the remainder of the season. This team has a lot of potential. Today was not a good game for us. We had some difficulty getting the ball to feet and maintaining our calm. It will get better though.”
Phillips said the only way to prevent any future disappointments is to learn to work together as a team. Although the team still has over a month before State championships, Phillips hopes that the team will come together and work with each other to achieve success in the coming weeks.
“I hope to become closer. It sounds cheesy but as a team we have to be a family or at the very least have a solid understanding of how our teammates play. You need to know who can handle what pass and who sees certain openings. You need to know the speed of your teammates and you need to trust them. Without trusting in the abilities of your teammates, you will undoubtedly hold back or try to do it all on your own. In the coming weeks, as we get to know each other’s styles of play, our success as a team will increase dramatically.”
Senior Carly Raetz played in today’s game, and agreed that the team members need to get to know each other better before they are capable of performing well in a game.
“There isn’t anything specific, we just have to continue to get to know each other and our different playing styles,” Raetz said. “High school soccer has an extra challenge because we don’t all play on the same team year round, so it just takes a bit of time to relearn how each player likes to play.”
Although this is Raetz’s last year playing soccer for RBHS, she knows she is leaving the team in good hands for the years to come. For now, she aims to make this season her best, and is focusing on self-improvement.
“Being in my senior year is kind of bittersweet, but I’m not concerned about what’s going to happen next year. I just try to focus on this season,” Raetz said. “My goals are the same as they always are, to play the best I can and improve as a player.”
The team’s next game will be a home game against Blue Springs South High School this Friday, April 11 at 6 p.m.