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Valley Scores Convincing Win to Jump-Start its Season

The Valley Regional girls’ soccer squad started the fall season off with a bang and earned a sizable victory over Hale-Ray. Getting to actual head-to-head competition has been a long process for many athletes, but it seems the wait was certainly worth it for Head Coach Lauren MacDonald and the Warriors.

Valley hosted Hale-Ray on Oct. 2 and picked up a 7-0 victory over the Noises. The Warriors’ offensive onslaught was led by Taryn Frazier, who scored two goals. Sophia Surber, Bitzy Klomp, Anna Benson, Reagan Doyon, and Hannah Tejedor all added goals as well.

Coach MacDonald thought that it took a little bit of time for her student-athletes to get into the swing of the competition, but the Warriors eventually found their groove.

“Once we got our first-game jitters out of the way, we were able to settle into our style of play,” MacDonald said. “Hale-Ray has low numbers, but you would never know it from how they played. They are a hardworking team who didn’t give up. It was a good game for both teams.

The Warriors picked up a win and staked a claim at the top of the Shoreline Conference standings. Regardless of the result, Coach MacDonald and her athletes were most excited about getting onto the pitch and playing against real competition from another school.

“It felt amazing to play our first game and see the players in their uniforms again, especially after preparing for over a month. You could visibly see the excitement and nerves from the girls,” MacDonald said. “It took about 20 minutes before we were fluidly moving the ball around the field, completing give and gos, and looking for shots on goal. I’m so excited for what the rest of this season has in store for us.”

Valley had stellar showings on both sides of the ball. The offense was potent and managed to get the ball to the back of the net seven times. Coach MacDonald believes that the team’s ability to mesh together made for that strong offense.

“The thing that worked best for our offense in this game was that everyone played an important role. Many of our offensive attacks started from the backfield, even from our keeper,” MacDonald said. “We were able to score seven goals, but the best part was they came from six different players. A few players even scored their first varsity goals, and I will never forget the look of excitement on their faces.”

As impressive as the offensive attack was, the defense didn’t allow a single goal against. That’s another encouraging sign according to Coach MacDonald. While the Warriors have a capable goalie in sophomore Liz Allen, the defense helped prevent the ball from even reaching Allen in net.

“One thing we emphasize is that we fail and succeed as a team. Liz didn’t have to do much in goal this game, but she was prepared for anything that came her way,” said MacDonald. “The defense and midfield did a great job of shutting down the offensive attack before they could even cross into our box. We still have things we need to improve upon but seeing the defensive shape we had in our first game was very promising.”

While getting a big victory is always nice, sometimes winning by a large margin can cause a team to overlook some of its flaws or opportunities for improvement.

“I think it’s most important after a win like this to remember that there are always things to improve on. During our post-game talk, I asked the girls to take a minute to reflect on what we wanted to focus on moving into next week,” said MacDonald. “I ask the girls to treat every single game as if we are playing against our biggest rival. It’s important to always have that mindset going into every single game, especially knowing that we will always have things to work on.”

As for next week, Coach MacDonald knows that her team will have a couple of tests in a pair of Shoreline opponents.

“Next week we have Westbrook and Morgan and both games will provide us with different challenges as we try and perfect our formation and offensive attack. My goal for the girls this season is to go into each game with an individual and team goal they want to accomplish,” MacDonald said. “We will need to adjust from playing 8-on-8 versus Hale Ray, to our 11-on-11 mindset. I want the girls to continue to be a threat offensively but focus on our small ball and how we can expand from there. Morgan is always a strong and physical team, we will need to be prepared to keep up with their speed. Each game provides us with another opportunity to play and grow not only as a team but individually as well.”