Kelsey Holt, Erika Allen and Lauryn Jodoin pose before a 5-0 home win over Nottingham on Friday, Sept. 11, 2015. (Photo by Suzette J. Lucas.)
By Ken Weingartner
A positive attitude can go a long way in helping a team find success.
Lawrence High School girls’ soccer team captains Erika Allen, Kelsey Holt and Lauryn Jodoin hope to help the Cardinals along the way with plenty of encouragement as well.
Allen, one of only three seniors on Lawrence’s roster, and juniors Holt and Jodoin were selected by their teammates to fill the roles of captains. They are grateful for the opportunity to help lead the squad, whether it is with an encouraging word or simply by example.
“I guess I’m seen as a leader and hopefully I can guide the team positively throughout the season, no matter if it’s a win or a loss,” Allen said of the honor. “I just want to help keep a positive attitude throughout the year. Just to be able to guide and be someone people can look up to. I like to lead by example rather than telling people what to do.”
Holt, who last year ranked among the team’s top scoring threats with five goals and three assists, brings a similar mentality to her leadership role.
“The goal is not to lose the mentality of being positive on the field and working hard, to keep up the communication on the field and to work until the last minute of the game,” Holt said. “Our whole thing for this year is to be positive with each other throughout the entire season, to help each other better our play, and set the expectations to be out here playing hard. My biggest thing is to be open with the team, to talk on and off the field, and by leading by example on the field too.”
Having a close-knit group of teammates, as well as captains, is also a positive.
“We’ve all played together since we were in second grade,” Holt said, referring to her fellow captains. “We all love each other. It’s like we’re meant to be the three together. It’s great to be with them. They’re also really great captains too. I feel that the three who were chosen really can lead by example on this team. The team, that’s what I most enjoy. I love being out here and playing with girls that I love to play with. We all get along very well. It helps a lot with the whole chemistry of the team.”
Lawrence finished last season with a 5-13-1 record in head coach Emily Palumbo’s second year at the helm. The team returns several players from a year ago, but the roster is dominated by more than a dozen sophomores, so Palumbo relies on her captains to assist in setting the proper tone for the campaign.
“[Mike Krzyzewski] from Duke always says you can’t really have a solid team unless you have internal leadership,” Palumbo said. “They kind of have to be the internal leaders when there are things they can take care of on their own, and then they need to know when they have to come to me and I need to take care of something. I look to them to always be positive role models and play with heart, to keep the girls focused, keep them light, keep them up.”
Despite the overall youth of the roster, Palumbo entered the season impressed with the Cardinals.
“A lot of them play together year-round, which is a great thing, and they know each other,” Palumbo said. “They work hard, which is all I really ask of them. And they’re willing to play different places, so it’s good. They want to win and they want to do well. We have high expectations for them. As long as they stay positive and play with heart, I think they can stay with a lot of teams in the CVC, if not all of them.”
Lawrence opened the season by winning two of its first three games, beating Nottingham 5-0 in the opener and bouncing back from a loss to Notre Dame by blanking Trenton 7-0.
“We’re extremely fast, that’s one of our strengths,” Palumbo said. “We have a lot of people who can play multiple positions, which is good. That gives us depth. They look to do the right things. We have to play a full 80 minutes of soccer. I think last year we would play 65 or 70 minutes, but not a full 80, which is where we had our weaknesses. We played tight with a lot of teams last year, then we had a few breakdowns and the other teams capitalized. It’s not having those breakdowns this year and really focusing on that.”
Five different players scored in Lawrence’s win over Nottingham: Holt, Sarah Berardi, Isabella Corcoran, Victoria Wierzbowicz and Jennifer Zoll. Holt, Wierzbowicz, Emily Mihov and Lisa Smith registered assists. Ally Wakeman made 15 saves in keeping a clean sheet.
Holt, Berardi, Mihov and Wierzbowicz found the scoring column against Trenton, with Morgan Franc and Sydney Hunt also joining in the action. Wakeman stopped five shots for the shutout.
Wakeman’s ability to stop shots is not only beneficial in games, it helps the Cardinals with their preparation too. The work of Wakeman, a sophomore, and classmate Sara Hatfield in the nets during practice forces Lawrence’s players to remain focused throughout their drills.
“They have to get 30 goals before they can leave a practice and getting 30 goals on Ally and Sara is no easy task,” Palumbo said. “We try to remind them of that. If they’re finishing against two goalkeepers that are that talented, they should be able to score in the CVC. That drill helps. They get frustrated at the end of practice because they want to go home, but it forces them to focus and finish. You’ve got to score goals to win games.”
And staying optimistic and enthusiastic doesn’t hurt either.
“I see a lot of potential,” said Allen, who is joined by Corcoran and Hunt as the seniors on the squad. “Individually we have a lot of talented players. As long as we come together, it should be a good season. Hopefully [our early success] set the groundwork for what’s going to happen in the future. Hopefully it’s all positives.”
,
