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10/21/2021 12:00 AMHaving played soccer with many of her teammates since she was a youngster, Caroline Hutchinson is making the most of their final year together on the field. This season, Caroline is serving as a senior captain for a Valley Regional girls’ soccer team that has its sights on qualifying for the Shoreline Conference Tournament.
“We’ve always been on the same team and grew up playing together, which is one of the best parts. Knowing it’s my senior year is definitely bittersweet,” says Caroline. “It’s awesome that I’ve gotten to play with them over these years, but I’m really sad we’ll be parting ways after this season.”
Despite some early setbacks, Caroline says that the Warriors’ team dynamic is “really positive” and that they are learning from their losses as they head into the home stretch of the regular season. Caroline and her teammates are looking to win their next several Shoreline Conference games in order to qualify for the league tournament.
“The setbacks early in the season will help us in future games with our attitude and motivate us to be better players to win the next couple games,” Caroline says. “We’d like to get far in the Shoreline playoffs, if not win. We’ve had that goal for the past couple seasons, and I’d really like our team to experience that, because I know we’ve been working hard.”
One person who has seen that hard work firsthand is Valley Head Coach Lauren MacDonald. Coach MacDonald says that Caroline, a center back, is doing a quality job of leading the Warriors as one of the team’s three captains this season.
“Caroline is always one of the most vocal players on the field. Caroline plays center back and commands the show with junior keeper Liz Allen. She is the first to every ball, works hard no matter what, and finds momentum to go forward,” says MacDonald. “I appreciate Caroline’s tenacious attitude and her willingness to help her teammates on and off the field. She is a great soccer player, student-athlete, and young woman.”
Caroline feels honored to have been named one of Valley’s captains alongside Sophia Surber and Taryn Frazier. Caroline likes the fact that each member of the trio brings her own style of leadership to the pitch.
“We work well together, because we each bring a different aspect to team. Sophia is good on the field and has good footwork and, even though Taryn is suffering from an injury, she’s doing a good job of leading the team from the bench, keeping them up in spirits and enthusiastic,” Caroline says. “I like to communicate on the field. I’m pretty approachable, so I like being there for teammates and letting them know they can come to me if they need something.”
While this may be Caroline’s last season on the soccer field at Valley, she will still be donning a Warriors’ uniform in both the winter and spring seasons as a member of their indoor track and crew programs.
Caroline played basketball while growing up, but after doing track in middle school, she decided to pursue indoor track at the high school. Caroline found that track was a good way to stay in shape for soccer and enjoyed trying out different events.
Caroline found her niche in the high jump and has competed at the Shoreline Conference Championship in the event. Caroline currently has a personal-best jump of 4 feet-8 inches and wants to pick up two more inches in order to qualify for states.
“I’m working really hard to make it to states,” says Caroline, who also competes in the hurdles. “I’m really close to getting that, and that’s what I’m really pushing for.”
Caroline’s older sister Emily helped build up the crew program at Valley, inspiring Caroline to join the Warriors as a freshman. Caroline took advantage of an opportunity to train at the Pettipaug Yacht Club during the summer before her freshman year.
“Emily really helped gather people and helped make crew become a more popular sport at Valley. I was originally planning on doing [outdoor] track, but after seeing how much she enjoyed it, I thought I would do crew,” Caroline says. “It was really fun for me, because the first year I joined, my sister was a senior, so I was able to have that connection with upperclassmen and get warmed up to it.”
The Valley crew competes with four on a boat, whereas many of the larger schools have eight-person boats. After enjoying her first year of crew, Caroline’s sophomore season was canceled due to COVID-19. Coming back as a junior, Caroline moved up to the first boat with three of her friends.
“Last year was really exciting for me, because I wasn’t able to have that season sophomore year. So, it was really good to get back on the water and compete like we used to,” says Caroline. “I know we’ll be pretty good next year, so I’m excited for that.”
Aside from competing in her sports, Caroline enjoys cheering on her brother Sam, who is a junior student-athlete at Valley. Caroline’s parents, Jeff and Julia, are always on the sidelines to root for their children. Caroline also feels grateful for the support of her coaches.
“My parents try hard to make it to every game, and they’re dedicated to watching us all the time, encouraging us, and having positive things to say, which is really helpful,” Caroline says. “They love supporting all the sports we do.”
Caroline, who also enjoys music and plays the flute, is exploring options for college. She completed an internship at a veterinary clinic and is also considering a career in finance, business, or engineering.
When it comes down to her favorite thing to do, though, it all comes back to sports for Caroline. While she enjoys participating in all three of her sports, Caroline says that soccer may just be her favorite.
“Sports are my life,” says Caroline. “I’ve been doing soccer the longest, and my teammates are all my friends. I know them the best, and I’m really close with all of them. I’m lucky to have that sport as such a consistent thing in my life.”