As the fall season came to an end, Atholton High School’s varsity soccer teams, both boys and girls, ended the season right by showcasing their talent and determination on the field. Throughout their season they’ve had hard-fought battles, impressive victories, and relentless spirit and pride they carried with them through each match.
The Atholton Girls Varsity soccer team put in their blood, sweat and tears into this season, with the record of 6-4-2. From the hardworking practices to the strong wins, the Girls Varsity soccer team pulled through.
The Girls Varsity coach, Coach Thompson, has been the Girls Varsity Coach at Atholton High School for 5 years and it’s his 3rd year as head coach. Coach Thompson enjoys coaching the Girls Varsity team and said they’ve had a successful season with only 2 losses this season.
“Overall it’s been a very good season, last year having two wins and this year only having 2 losses. It’s just a really big difference and it’s been really good to have the team be very committed this year,” said Thompson.
Junior-midfielder, Denive Guy-Williams of the Girls Varsity Soccer team for Atholton, claimed the team did pretty well this season.
“Communication can obviously be better but I feel like it’s been pretty good right now.”
Denive enjoyed playing soccer this season with her two close friends, Miley Barrett and Chloe Coughlan who are a big part of why she still loves soccer. As well as enjoying soccer, Denive claimed that soccer has made her a more well rounded and empathetic person. This sort of success in growth wasn’t limited to the girls team, as the boys team displayed hardwork and success as well.
The Boy Varsity Soccer season has been quite successful. With a final record of 5-8-1, Coach Constantine, the Boys Soccer Varsity coach, stated, “This season has been really rewarding. There was some hangover effect with that with some players thinking they weren’t going to be successful, but once we started to get some buy- in from some of the senior players, through the middle of the season we saw that we can make things happen and win some games.”
COnstantine was quick to praise the defense, and his goalies. The defensive line had some great plays this season as Coach Constantine stated, “there’s definitely been some games where they’ve struggled but there’ve been more opportunities where they’ve really stood out.”
Constantine also highlighted both his goalies as successful: “Jack Glassman and Drew Richman. I’d say both are quality goalkeepers that have different strengths.”
The team’s success was due in part to the strong play of the goalies as well as the team’s playoff strategy.
As this is Coach Constantine’s first year coaching varsity, he stated that there was a challenge last year and people did not have a lot of belief in the team’s ability to play well and win games. When it came to the playoffs, the team had a great strategy.
They would try to do a good bit of film study as well as have some recovery days here and there because the high school season is “quite physically demanding” Coach Constantine stated. Despite this strategy, Atholton only had one tough, hard opponent that they faced this year, River Hill.
Coach Constantine claimed that the best team that they played was River Hill. Compared to their outstanding athletes, according to Constantine, no matter what game plan someone comes up with or strength/weaknesses you unlock, if a team is bigger, faster, and stronger than you in every position then you will end up suffering.
However, the team improved at their second playoff game, against Marriotts Ridge, with a tie of 1-1. With their athletic quality and superiority, the team played well. When it came to the playoffs this season, Coach Constantine claimed that they were ready. “I think we won more than twice as many games as last year.”
Coach Constantine and Aaron Aldred, right-back on the Boys Varsity soccer team, both had similar ideas when it came to soccer. They both claimed to like the “competitive nature” of soccer. Ever since getting on varsity in sophomore year, Aaron stated that “it’s been harder and more of a challenge.”
Aaron explained, “We have a good team. We have good communication with each other. If somebody’s not doing so well or if somebody needs help, we try to help each other as much as we can.”
When it came to soccer though, Aaron said soccer has changed him as it “brought a lot of good things” in his life.
This season has been another success for both varsity teams. Both teams have demonstrated exceptional skill, teamwork and dedication throughout the season. Their hard-work and perseverance have not only led to impressive victories but also fostered a strong sense of community and sportsmanship.