The girls varsity soccer team was pleased with the outcome of Thursday’s game.
The 1-1 tie proved to the Cardinals that they can keep up with a competitive team, coming into the season with a younger roster.
Poor weather conditions and communication on the pitch have led to some practices the team believed could have better prepared them for Thursday’s game, said senior Madison Grosdidier and sophomore Jayla Erpelding.
“The effort in practice has been good. I feel like we work hard at practice, but sometimes lose focus,” Erpelding said.
Even so, the Cards made sure Baldwin had to work hard for their goal openings.
Keeping the pressure on the opponents proved successful for the varsity team and landed them the critical goal by junior Amelia Willis early in the second half.
Baldwin answered to the Cards’ goal shortly after Willis made the student section shake the bleachers with her kick. From there, the rest of the game was a battle of endurance.
Ball possession was split between the two schools. Baldwin came away with more opportunities to score, but that didn’t stop the Cardinals’ defense from closing those opportunities as they appeared.
“We worked hard, we played hard. I’m super proud of all of us. I loved the turnout honestly. I didn’t think we would make it this far,” Grosdidier said
The girls fought through the cold weather and managed to keep Baldwin at bay for two extra overtimes. The fans matched the varsity’s energy by cheering them on the whole time. When the clock finally hit zero, any doubts the team had were left on the field.
Head coach Darren Erpelding shared the same feelings as the team coming into this game. Now that it is over and he and the team have the experience they were looking for, it is time to make improvements.
“We got 100 minutes to look at. But now we can start making adjustments for things that we needed to see live that maybe weren’t showing up in practice as much. And now these girls can see more of what we need to get done to where we can go forward and get better,” he said
Many of the team’s players have not seen much action on the pitch but have shown they are willing to learn, said senior Mallory Vickers.
“The commitment that the girls have for this team is amazing. Some of these girls have never played before, and it’s really nice to see them come out and put everything on the field,” Vickers said.
Commitment will be the name of the game now that the season is underway. Sophomore Lauren Grauberger wants to see this team grow and make progress to their goal of overcoming last year’s record of 10-7-1.
“My goal for the team is just to improve. I think we should all work on trying to improve as a team no matter what the outcome is and just have fun,” Grauberger said.
Next week the varsity team has their work cut out for them with three away games.
The Cards will play at Heritage Christian Academy on Monday, at Ottawa on Tuesday and at Piper on Thursday.
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Reach reporter William Crow at [email protected].
