by Julie Luciano
Hoping for back to back league championships the girls came out strong competing against Maple Hill and Lansingburgh in two scrimmages played on their home pitch on September 7. They tied the first game 2-2 with a goal from Meaghan McKee and another quick goal from a new addition to the team, Emma Frickie. In their second game of the day they started strong and ended strong winning 2-0. Seventh-grader Jordyn Hanes and tenth-grader Grace Delurey each added one assist and one goal.
The team lost 5 starting, key players last year, but it is clear that the Panthers are not having trouble filling the spots. There are seven new additions to the team including – juniors Alyssa Surdam and Emma Frickie, sophomores Anna
Restino, Mary Peters and Katlyn Stowell, freshman Mackenzie Hinchcliffe, eighth-grader Rachael Pine and seventh-grader Jordyn Hanes. Senior Brooke Sargood said, “Although we lost a lot of great players last year, the new girls have great skills and are very speedy. Our defense is solid and our team trusts us back there. With the loss in the first round of Sectionals last year we learned the hard way that anything can happen, and it won’t end like that this year.”
The girls have been conditioning non-stop during pre-season to make them ready for the upcoming season and the transition from Class C to Class B. Coach Tom Husser is quite confident in his team as always. “Since we have moved up to Class B it isn’t the league we have to worry about because that will stay the same. It is Sectionals where it gets different. The first round will start out with a tough game, and it will just keep getting tougher.”