Victoria Miller, girls soccer
FREMONT — Life in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference has not been easy for the Fremont Ross girls soccer team in recent years. While the Lady Giants have taken strides outside of league play, success within it has still eluded them.
But as the 2017 season gets underway, Ross is optimistic the tough lessons its learned over the years are going to start taking hold as the Lady Giants begin to lift themselves from the league’s basement.
No one has grand ambitions of a TRAC title just yet, not for a program that hasn’t won a league game since 2011, but the seniors are confident they are on the verge of the first league win of their careers.
“A lot of the seniors have ambitions,” senior Victoria Miller said. “We want to make our team better so we’re kind of pushing our coach to work more and run more.
“We’re going to win a game in the TRAC.”
Though Ross hasn’t been able to break through into the TRAC’s win column, it’s not as though they have not been competitive.
Hailey Taylor, girls soccer
Despite posting an 0-7 league mark in 2017, Ross finished with a 5-11 overall record. Coach Phil Collison said his team will have to keep itself from letting any league struggles carry over to its non-league contests where his team should be on more even footing.
“When you come off our league matches and turn back into opponents who are our equal playing level, not letting (the league match) affect you,” he said. “Not getting too low, for sure. Trying to stay positive in matches, even when you’re struggling through some days.”
To help them through the hard times, the Lady Giants, in addition to a re-dedication to their work ethic, are also not letting on-the-field struggles become personal attacks.
“We communicate better,” said senior goalkeeper Hailey Taylor. “Some people, if you try to tell them how they can do something better, they can take it as ‘Oh, they’re saying I’m not good,’ but this year it’s ‘Oh, they’re trying to help me.’ There are no hurt feelings anymore.”
While creating scoring opportunities has not been an issue for the Lady Giants, turning those chances into goals has been a struggle at times. If Ross is to take the next step in its development as a program, putting the ball in the net has to happen more consistently.
“In years past we’ve had some great opportunities and just hit the post or pushing it wide,” Collison said. “I think this team will produce the opportunities, they produced the opportunities last year and the year before, but we were losing those 1-0, 2-1 or 3-1 matches and dominating, but just missing those good opportunities.”
Miller returns as the team’s leading scorer last season and is joined by seven other returning starters, including fellow seniors Addison Burmeister and Miranda Shetzer (midfielders) and defender Mary Miller.
Those seniors, along with a solid group of juniors give Ross something the program has been lacking for several seasons: Experienced upperclassmen. Collison believes having a veteran core will make a difference.
“All of them have been playing for quite some time,” he said. “They’re starting to develop some soccer IQ, which is nice. They work well together as a team and their communications skills have improved through the years.”
Juniors will head up the defensive end of the field with Jordan Relford and Sophie Collison. Taylor, meanwhile, is returning to her place in goal, her third year in the position where she is trying to limit the opposition’s second-chance opportunities.
“I have a hard time, sometimes, catching the ball, so I’m working on trying to stop it from going back into the field, rebounds, trying to make sure it doesn’t happen,” she said. “I’m also trying to move the ball off to the side in those instances where I can’t catch the ball, try to get it where the offense can’t get it.”
The Lady Giants kick off the season Aug. 21 at home against Sandusky Perkins at 4:30 pm.
“The kids have to learn how to win, they’re a little bit hungrier, a little bit older and a little bit more mature,” Collison said. “I’m hoping with that maturity comes learning how to dig deep and not let those close games slide away from you.”