Bellingham Eyeing an Appearance in the State Tournament
By Christopher Tremblay, Staff Sports Writer
Although the Bellingham girls’ soccer team finished with a 1-15-2 record last fall the Blackhawks are looking to rebound with a big year – one in which would be in uncharted waters for the female soccer players.
“I don’t think that Bellingham girls’ soccer has ever made it to the MIAA playoffs,” Coach Jon O’Neil said. “I believe that if we continue to decrease our opposition’s goals while scoring on our end, we should be able to achieve the goal of making it into the playoffs.”
Bellingham has been working hard at earning the Blackhawks first appearance in the post-season. Along with the realignment of the squad moving down to Division 4, where they will square off against teams more of their caliber, Bellingham will have a team full of upper-class athletes – making their goal that much more realistic.
Over the past few seasons, the Blackhawks haven’t fielded a team that supported a strong upper class, but this fall things will be different, and the Coach sees it as being a step in the right direction.
“When you go up against the talent that we’ve been playing in the Tri-Valley League (TVL) with teams having a lot of juniors and seniors on their squad, while we’re playing eighth and ninth graders it makes it tough to be successful,” O’Neil said. “We’ve been under sized and lacked the physicality the other teams brought to the field, but now having the junior class being a big presence we are seeing the signs of things to come.”
While not part of the junior class, seniors Rebecca Pippitt and Kiarra Shain are looking to lead this team to history as co-captains. Pippitt will most likely be playing on the defensive end, more as a left back, while she may see some action in the center for stability. Shain, on the other hand, will not be seeing action anytime soon. She suffered an injury that will not allow her to take to the field in fear of hurting herself more. However, she will be used in a managerial aspect by O’Neil and will supply the team with moral support on the sidelines. Pippitt will do so as well, but on the field of play.
In addition to having a talented corps of upper-class players, O’Neil has noted that their speed of the game has increased, and they believe that it will translate to success this fall. O’Neil went on to say that he is very excited for the upcoming campaign and what the junior class, which he classified as the strongest class in the school athletic wise, can bring to the field.
O’Neil has a handful of girls from that junior class that he is looking for to grab the reins and guide the team into its first ever post-season. Calleigh Elder is an athlete that can play anywhere and will be a strong presence wherever she is penciled into play. Elder, who is being scouted by Division 1 colleges to play soccer, has also offered to play goalie if needed.
Rianna Taylor will play either center or outside midfield, where she will be the main focus of holding down the middle of the field. According to the Coach, the midfielder has shown signs that she is more than capable and adapting to what he has thrown at her. O’Neil is hoping that the junior has a breakout year, especially with her speed and physicality.
Sophia Jandrow has been playing defense for three years under O’Neil, this season will be her second as center back, where she transitioned last fall because of her soccer IQ and her making smart decisions.
“If she continues to play the way that she did last year (she played 16 or 17 of 18 games), she’ll be a very important piece,” the Bellingham Coach said. “She is a rock and has been a huge impact on our goals allowed. We decreased our goal differential by 40 goals from the previous year and want to continue to improve upon it.”
Jocelyn Zahn is the teams ‘Swiss Army Knife.’ She can play anywhere on the field, and according to the Coach is one of the better conditioned athletes to take to the field. She run up and down the field for the full 90 minutes and doesn’t have to worry about taking her out for a breather.
Anabella Barrasso will play up top for the Blackhawks as a striker with a very good shot and a strong foot. The Coach is looking for his striker to get that one-touch shot on net, while bringing a presence to the team on the field.
Two other athletes that should play key roles for the Blackhawks will be sophomore Maggie Kane and freshman Katherine Mendez. The freshman exceeded expectations last fall as an eighth grader, while the sophomore stood tall as the last line of defense.
“Katherine came onto the scene last year and although she can play anywhere, she’ll see a lot of action as a left back on defense,” O’Neil said. “She has a great soccer IQ and knows where to go with the ball at all times, I am confident in her ability no matter where I put her on the field.”
While there were many athletes that helped the Blackhawks decrease their opposition’s total goals scored, Kane stood tall in between the pipes. The sophomore will be entering her third season as the Bellingham goal keeperk and the Coach will be looking to her to continue to keep the ball out of the net while the goal differential continues to dip; all while being a vocal leader this season.
According to O’Neil, playing in the TVL is not only tough, but should help the girls prepare for the post-season, especially now that they will be playing in a much more compatible division.
“Last year, our scores really didn’t indicate who were because of who we were playing (a lot of Division 1 and 2 teams, the Bellingham Coach said. “Our strength of schedule, having to play the TVL, will give us a chance to see what types of teams we’ll be going up against. It will condition us to be ready to play the top teams.”
In the past, Bellingham has had a lot of tough games, against schools that had some 70 athletes tryout for their teams, while Bellingham was lucky to get 20-30 girls. With that said, the girls who did make the Bellingham team found themselves logging a lot of minutes taking a toll on their physicality as well as their mentalness.
Having to endure what they have in the past has only made Bellingham stronger, and they are more than ready to show their opposition that, this season, they are looking to make a statement as well as write history for the Blackhawks girl soccer program.
