On Feb. 25 Girls Soccer played in state finals against Xavier Prep. Girls soccer lost by 1-4 and ended the season with 10-2.

Before finals, the team had been training hard, focusing more on team bonding to be more cohesive. Sophomore Joliye Brass commented, “We’ve been training really hard together as a team. We’ve made sure to bond more and be more together as a group instead of being so negative.” Coach Kete Meskill further explained, “A big thing we talked about was showing more personality and being yourself, we have a lot of talent in the group, and making sure that the moment of ‘oh my gosh we’re in the finals’ doesn’t get to big for them and they become a little more timid.”

Because of this, the team was confident in their ability to beat Xavier. Junior Reagan Peterson stated ”I thought it was our year, that we were gonna come out with a win.” Some others believed the score would be closer, whether or not they won as Brass stated, “I thought personally we were going to go out and make it a closer game than it was” Meskill further explained
What really mattered was how the players felt going up against Xavier. Meskill commented that “The last time we played them we tied and went into overtime against Xavier.” With their past with Xavier and a missing player in the back of their minds Brass believes nerves played a part in their performance as she stated, “I think a lot of people were nervous and going into it already being defeated in a way, but we also tried to keep going. But I think it was a lot of nerves.” Nerves play a big part in anyone’s performance let alone when one plays in a game to end the sports season. Nerves can make one miss a shot or trip and fall. 

Many on the team would be gone after this year as there are thirteen seniors on the team out of 24 total players. Brass stated, “We all just went into it confident, we had to leave everything we had behind on that field cause we knew for seniors that was the last time they were ever going to play with us.” This last game was the last time these seniors and underclassmen would play a sport they enjoyed together. 

What is important is that the team was confident in themselves. Even though nerves got to them in the end they still were positive in the face of loss, and made their last game all together fun.