Middle School players on the Varsity, Junior Varsity, Delphic, and Pacific Basin soccer teams began shooting, dribbling, and passing the ball on a daily basis in November, but few students experienced the type of season they had hoped for.
Soccer teams this year have not excelled as they have in previous years. Because of their disappointing records, some soccer players said they have ambivalent feelings about the 2011 season. The Varsity team, for example, won a championship in 2008 but finished this season with zero in-league wins.
“They are on a building series. This year they struggled a little bit more and had a lot of injuries,” 7/8 Athletic Coordinator Julie Napoleon said.
Even after a 4–0 start, the 7/8 Pacific Basin Team finished the regular season at 4–5, following consecutive losses to Turning Point, Windward, Crossroads, Archer and Westside Neighborhood School.
Alyce ’16, who played for the Pacific Basin Team, said she believes the most disappointing part of the season was the team’s loss to Windward, the second in a series of defeats. She said she was frustrated “when we lost our second game because, losing one game, I thought we could bounce back, but [after] losing our second game [we never did].”
Both the 7/8 Delphic and Pacific Basin teams played in their respective league playoffs, however, neither team advanced past the first round. These two losses marked the end of a losing soccer season.
One of the most rewarding parts of playing a sport at Marlborough is improving as a team. Every team practices at least four days a week, and seeing their hard work pay off is important to players.
“Although we did not do that well, we improved a lot since the start of the season,” said Brooke ’16, who played for the 7/8 Delphic team.
Coaches agree that this season was more about hard work than tangible accomplishments.
“As a team we had much more improvement due to the dedication they had,” 7/8 Delphic team Coach Flavio Ribeiro said.
The Varsity team in particular said they succeeded in coming together as a team.
“I think what has been so successful about our team is the cohesiveness we have with one another,” Varsity player Zoe ’11 said. “We all get along very well and always do our very best to translate that unity into good possession when we’re on the field.”
Fortunately, Upper School soccer players should expect a boost in the wins column next year. “Varsity and JV should be very optimistic,” Napoleon said. “They are going to get a lot of good 8th Grade girls.”
