By Kevin Cunningham
Sports Correspondent
Last year’s girls soccer team was a special group according to Whitewater’s assistant coach, Richard Gunter. The Whippets went 16-3-2 a season ago and lost in the Regional Finals to Grafton, 1-0.
The game was indicative of how the team played last year, with defense being the key to success. Four senior starters were lost from last year’s team, but the goalkeeper, Aly Sedmak is back with the Whippets to help make another push toward a Regional Final.
“This team this year is a lot younger in experience,” Gunter said. “We do have a couple freshmen who are really good prospects that have a lot of talent. This team has to find the chemistry. We have talent, but we need to find the chemistry. A lot of these girls just haven’t played together yet.”
In the defensive backfield ahead of Sedmak are two outside defenders, both of which this season are starting freshmen.
“The girls played pretty well and gave up some goals, but will learn mistakes from,” said Gunter, talking about the team’s third and most recent game of the season. “The experience of seeing, communicating and knowing who’s where [is important]. We’re running through combinations but it’s going to take a while.”
Gunter talked a lot about how with all the inexperience of playing at the varsity level on this year’s roster, it is going to take time figuring out who plays where best, especially when it comes down to team chemistry. The scheduling format changed starting this year as well, where before the Whippets had to play every team in its conference two times, now it plays each team once, resulting in more non-conference matchups.
Gunter said the team tried to load up on its schedule in the non-conference, playing teams in higher divisions in order to prepare for the tougher teams in the Rock Valley Conference and once the WIAA Playoffs start. He talked about how the team’s record probably won’t be as great as the 16-game winning team was a year ago, but the experience the team will gain throughout the year will be vital.
In the first game of the season on April 5, Whitewater lost to Elkhorn, 5-0. The Whippets are a Division 3 team, while Elkhorn is in Division 2. The team’s next game came against Palmyra-Eagle on April 7 and resulted in a 1-1 draw.
The Whippets were without a couple players for its first two games of the season, and the chemistry is still working itself out. In the third game, against Janesville Craig on April 12, the team showed off most of its full roster, earning a 5-4 win.
In that game, the Whippets led 4-2 at one point and had two goals scored by Milana Maroske within the first 35 minutes. Maroske then got hurt, but was told by a doctor that she would be OK going forward. Maroske didn’t play in the team’s first two games, resulting in a loss and draw.
Four freshmen got playing action at one point or another in the game against Janesville Craig, along with a couple sophomores, speaking to the team’s youth and overall inexperience. Now at 1-1-1 overall, the Whippets’ next game is scheduled for a 6:45 p.m. start against Big Foot/Williams Bay on April 14 on the road.
“It’s going to be a very physical game on a small field,” Gunter said. “It’s going to be all about quick transitions and counter attacks, so, we’re going to have to be on our game defensively. Sometimes in these early spring games the weather has a lot to do with it. My expectations are that it will be a tough match.
“Last year they had tremendous speed on the flanks and we’re going to have to match that. The kids we put in there have to match with them. Over the last couple years we’ve had low scoring games but I suspect this year will be different.”
Gunter also talked about some of the strengths of this year’s team going forward.
“We still have a deep central core,” Gunter said. “They’re strong players but they just played different positions last year. They just have to get used to each other and create, but it’s going to take some game experience. They are very smart girls and are great soccer players.
“With our outside defenders, I’m pretty comfortable with, but they just need more experience. I think they’ll get stronger. Our outside midfielders are still a little bit of a question but there are four girls we can rotate in and out to see who steps up. We’ve got some knowledge and seniority up through the middle while our flanks tend to be the young kids. We’re going to have to mold them together.”
