A year after the Varsity Girls soccer team finished sixth in the Flint Metro League Standings at 3-4-1, a new era was born as former Junior Varsity Coach Gary Skrzycki replaced Mark Sullivant as the Varsity Girls Soccer coach for the upcoming season.
One of the first items that Coach Skrzycki wanted to tackle was to bring a fresh attitude into the Varsity Girls soccer program and begin to reestablish it as one of the top teams in the conference. ‘I want to build the strongest team we can become? he said. Some of the ways he hopes to do that is by bringing a new approach to the drills in practice and by creating a mentoring program for the girls on the team.
‘It begins with the leadership of the Captains with the freshman players,? Skrzycki said. He intends to give his captains, Seniors Brianna Pastewski and Olivia Stevens, specific responsibilities both in games and practices in order to enhance the younger players skill sets. He would also like his captains to be able to share their in-game and post game evaluations to the team. ‘They both can see things occurring on the field quicker than I can? said Skrzycki. ‘Brianna is a hard worker and has a great understanding of the game and of the field, while Olivia can see the whole field from her defense spot and can make the quick changes to the ball direction when needed.? He also looks to Beth Downs, Amanda Roth, Taylor Dewey and Sarah Brooke to provide the scoring necessary to help produce victories.
Even before the season began, Coach Skrzycki’s philosophy is speed is going to help win games, and he wants to be able to capitalize on that.
One of his main goals in practice is to keep their conditioning strong and high, so that they could still use their speed to finish games. ‘It usually comes down to the last 15-20 minutes of a game, and I still want us to be playing strong? he said.
And they have been playing strong out of the gate, outscoring their opponents 7-2 in their first four games en route to a 2-1-1 record.
Their game on Monday, March 30, saw the girls score six times, three of which came from Dewey, en route to a 6-1 victory over Waterford Kettering. Before that, they lost to Brandon 1-0 and tied Kearsley 0-0 in a Flint Metro League Tournament at Fenton High School on Saturday, March 28. ‘Brandon just had a real good breakaway that caught our girls off guard,? said Coach Skrzycki. ?(Against Kearsley) It was a good game, very fast and the girls played well.?
Last Thursday, Taylor Dewey scored the lone goal in the Wildcat’s 1-0 win over Romeo High School.