The girls soccer team have gotten their first win of the season against Bellevue West, who went into the match 4-0. Bellevue West had previously beaten Marian who were ranked second for class A, giving Marian their first loss of the season. The Westside girls team lost their first two matches of the season, but have now bounced back with a 1-0 win against the Thunderbirds. One of the team’s star goalies Sarah Rosloniec shared how it felt to secure the team’s first win.
“I felt really proud of my teammates,” Rosloniec said. “And I’m happy to have our first win of the season.”
Junior Mia Urosevich scored the goal that would take the lead in the beginning of the match and be the game winner all the way until the end. One of the biggest contributors as well was junior Madi Kully who is a center back for the team. She explained how it felt to win for the first time in the season.
“It felt really good,” Kully said. “Although it wasn’t our best performance, the emotion and drive was there for everyone.”
Head coach Nathan May has kept working with the girls and it seems that the hard work that has been put in the season so far has finally paid off. He expressed how he felt as a coach to see the team get that win they have worked so hard for.
“It’s a good feeling,” May said. “We deserved the result, and we are excited to build on it.”
Bellevue West had come into the season ranked number nine in class A. This was not going to be an easy match, as West has many talented players on their team as well, but the Westside girls had been preparing for tough competitors such as them. Rosloniec shared what was the most challenging save she made during the match.
“The most challenging save I made during the match was in the second half with 34 minutes left,” Rosloniec said. “It was a corner; I saved it one time when it hit my stomach, when I went after it the second time and almost caught it and finally pushed it away the third time I touched it.”
Bellevue West did not back down after the first goal was made, and kept the pressure on during the entirety of the match. Kully, whose main job as center back is to prevent opposing players from scoring, explained what was the most challenging part for her during the match.
“The most challenging part was how quickly the game was transitioning,” Kully said. “ It caused a few 1 v. 1 situations.”
Coach May was not only coaching the girls throughout the match, but had also been observing and analyzing the team as many coaches do. He expressed what he thought was the key factor for the victory.
“Just our resilience,” May said. “It wasn’t an easy opponent to play against and we did not have our best performance with the ball, but we dug in and worked really hard and made sure we got the result we wanted.”
Having not won a match so far it could affect more of the mental mindset on many players than physical. Rosloniec explained how she prepared mentally and physically for this match.
“I prepared mentally by trying to not stress about our prior losses,” May said. “And I prepared physically by drinking a lot of caffeine.”
Kully also shared how she prepared.
“Preparing for the game we got together as a team and listened to some music and had a talk,” Kully said.
Morale is up after the win and coach May expressed how he plans to get this momentum going for the next match.
“Try to take the positives from the last result and the two games prior,” May said. “But also analyze what we could do better and keep looking to get that little better before our next game which will come very soon.”
The players have different perspectives to their win than the coach. Having to keep the 1-0 lead for next 60 minutes is not easy, but makes the win even more earned. Rosloniec shared how the win impacted the team’s morale moving forward.
“I feel like now that we have one win we’ll keep the momentum going forward,” Rosloniec said.
The Warriors next opponent will be Elkhorn South on April 4th.
