The loud cheering of teammates from the sidelines encourages the athletes hustling down the field. Coaches yell out commands, players pass the ball, and the crowd watches as WA pulls out a victory on a fall day. This is something that WA Girls’ Soccer (WAGS) hopes is a regular occurrence this upcoming 2023 soccer season.
After only winning two games last year, WAGS is looking to turn their team’s momentum around and have a more successful season. Senior captains Abby Baker, Sarah Kirby, and Urvi Pai plan on stepping up and leading the team in the effort to make it to the state tournament.
This year, WAGS is feeling confident in their ability to be strong competitors in the Dual County League (DCL). Now that their team’s chemistry has improved, and the team is not as young as it was in the previous season, they believe they will be solid contenders.
“I think we will be pretty successful, as we were a younger team last year, and I think this year our chemistry on and off the field has grown, which will lead us to a better season overall,” Baker said. “I am feeling pretty good about this season as we were better in this year’s preseason compared to last year.”
Even though WA has competed with a handful of talented teams in the past, their improvement during the preseason will allow them to perform to their full potential during the DCL regular season.
“Acton-Boxborough is always a tough match along with Newton South. However, this year, I think that the teams will be more evenly matched, which will give us a chance,” Baker said. “Although they are more evenly matched, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t going to be tough and hard fought games.”
This year, the girls thrive both offensively and defensively, but especially at the beginning of the game. The players on the field are able to come out of the gate with high energy and work hard the entire game to achieve success.
“Our team thrives best when we are just starting the game, starting the second half, and ending the game,” Baker said. “In these instances, WAGS gains energy that allows us to push through and pick up the pace a little bit, resulting in us striving to reach our goals.”
As the 2023 girls’ soccer season kicks off, players have high hopes to earn a spot in the state tournament, win more games than last season, and bring home a DCL title.
“This season, I hope to make it into the state tournament along with winning more games than last year,” Baker said. “I hope that the team can lead each other to success and we come out with a better record than last year to show improvement.”
