Girls soccer kicked off their varsity season with a few losses against Arsenal Tech, Triton Central and Southport, before finding their stride with a victory against Decatur Central on Aug. 25.
New head coach Gary Roberts is coming back to the team this year, as he started coaching boys soccer in the ‘80s, and later on began coaching girls as well. This coaching lasted for 33 years before he decided to set it aside to introduce girls lacrosse into Warren Athletics.
Coaches Kaitlin Edquist and Jason Brown have returned to the program again this year, in addition to new coaching staff members David Nicholas, Christian Littell and Natural Baptiste. Together, these coaches lead the Varsity, Black JV and Gold JV teams.
Coach Nicholas played for Warren while Roberts was coaching the teams and knows what drills Roberts likes to do and his expectations for the program when it comes to coaching by his side.
When Roberts was going through asking teachers close to him to help coach the girls, he took into consideration the fact that being a great teacher can lead to being a great coach. One of these coaches he felt this with is Baptiste, a Gold JV coach.
“I have never played soccer nor coached before, but I know sports, and I am able to translate what Coach Roberts is trying to do in my own way,” Baptiste said.
Goalkeeping and Gold JV coach Jason Brown started coaching because he wanted to pass along his own soccer knowledge.
“I wanted to help the girls soccer team because I felt that I could do more with the experience I had in soccer, wanting to pass on what I learned to the next generation,” Brown said. “I keep myself and the girls motivated by encouraging them to do more and not to let the negative moments linger. We will get better as long as we don't set ourselves back by holding on to how bad we did in the past.”
During lacrosse season last year, Roberts made the announcement to the girls that he would be coaching the girls soccer team, causing many of those girls to sign up to play during the fall season, including senior Garvey Mortley.
“She brings an awesome attitude and effort every single day, and this is a sport that's strange to her, but she plays it hard as if she’s always done it, and she’s figuring it out,” Roberts said of Mortley. “By the end, she’s gonna be a pretty good player. She's already helping us.”
Trying a new sport can be really difficult to get used to. Mortley said playing soccer this year is strange to her, but she is still going with the flow no matter how new it feels.
“Trying this new sport, I felt kind of out of place,” Mortley said. “In Lacrosse, I always know what to do and where to be, and I know all the rules and things related to the game. But now in soccer, I have no idea what I'm doing, and at times I feel like I'm bringing the team down because of that.”