Girls Soccer – The girls’ varsity soccer team went from three wins two years ago to winning nine games thus earning a spot in the region tournament in Fannin County last year. “It was good to see the girls benefit from their hard work,” commented girl’s head soccer coach Teresa Rindone. “They realize that they are not out there to just kick the ball around, they have talent and can compete with teams like North Oconee and Jackson Co.”
Coach Rindone, a middle school language arts/social studies teacher, has been head coach for three years. She was also the middle school soccer coach for two years previous to being head varsity coach; which is to say that a core group of 11 juniors have never had another soccer coach. “It’s been very beneficial,” remarks Rindone, “they know my tendencies and how things work. The sophomores, too, I coached for two years at the middle school. There are three incoming freshmen that look really good and I coached them for a year at the middle school.”
With the bulk of the team coming back this year Coach Rindone feels like the teams major strengths are intact. “We only lost one senior, Alex Orlowsky. She played club with a lot of the girls who learned her position and grew from the experience, so our defense should be set in the back. Plus these girls have been playing together for a long time. They know how each other plays and are picking up on each other's tendencies, they know how read each other on offense. Laura Abney and Jordan Pringle both ran cross country this year and that will help us with speed. Plus, many of the girls played club soccer and the younger girls played Rec. soccer. So they were getting touches on the ball. Soccer is one of those sports where if you’re not training all year round you just won’t get any better at it.”
“One of the things we have to improve on is not letting other teams psych us out," says Coach Rindone. “As an example East Jackson just psych’s us out. I don’t know why. We get these mental blocks. Sometimes we get scored on early and then it’s a matter of will we come back or are we going to play a purely defensive game. When we played Fannin Co in the playoffs we went down two points in the first ten minutes. On the sidelines I can’t do anything, I just had to wait and see if they were going to crumble or if they were going to come back. [Evidently they didn’t crumble that much scoring 4 goals in their losing effort.] It’s just something we are aware of and working to overcome.”
Unlike, say, basketball, where a coach can call a time out and talk to his team, making adjustments to an opponent’s style of play, soccer is a more fluid game. The coach can stand on the sidelines and shout instructions, but the game and on field situations change so fast that it’s really up to the players to make the necessary adjustments “on the fly.” That’s why on-field leadership is so important in soccer.
“In the back [defensive positions] we have Heather Helmreich, Jeri Wilcox and Colleen Fallon, says Coach Rindone. “I look to them to provide leadership. I’ve watch them in the club games and during conditioning and seen how they communicate with some of the younger girls. In the mid-field Fabolia Rojas, who is a senior and one of our most improved players will be one of strong points for the other players. Up front we are looking for Laura Abney to provide direction. We are looking for those girls to provide leadership both on and off the field.”
From the sophomore ranks Coach Rindone says the Katie Pilson and Jordan Pringle are stepping up in a leadership role. “Katie does a good job of helping everyone keep a good mental attitude”, remarks Coach Rindone. “Jordan works real well with Laura up front and she’s a very good player. As far as freshmen go we have three that I’m looking at. Sarah Chastain, who will probably play in the middle with Fabolia [Rojas], Brianna Basinger, who has been training as a keeper with a trainer in Athens and Allison Miller who will be a key player up top.”
Coach Rindone was somewhat surprised by the varsity girl’s success last year. “When I came over from the middle school,” says Rindone, “I didn’t think we’d do that great. One reason is because the seniors had been playing together for a while and we had two different mentalities about how the game should be played. We had those seniors and we had a large group of ninth graders and it didn’t mix very well. I didn’t think we’d grow as much last year. We went from a three win season to a nine win season plus we score fifty some-odd goals last year. We went to Fannin County for the region playoff and we got beat. But the girls looked at each other and said this was the best game we’ve played. We made the region playoffs this year, how are we going to respond next year?”
Oglethorpe’s girls’ soccer team is in the enviable position of being one the region teams-to-beat this year. “Yeah, that’s right,” remarks Coach Rindone with a smile. “I told the girls at the end of the season last year and again at conditioning that it’s harder to stay at the top than to get to the top. That’s not to say that it didn’t take hard work to get there, but you’re one of the top four in the region and it’s going to be harder to stay there. I know Jefferson is out to get us because we put them out of the region playoffs. North Oconee is going to be looking at us real close. Jackson Co we beat once and lost to once so they are looking at us. But it’s nice to be a contender now.”
“The girls know they are going to have to work twice as hard now,” says Coach Rindone. “From going to other games this fall and talking to other coaches, the other girls know who our girls, they pick them out.”
Coach Rindone has seen a lot of personal growth and strong friendships on her team. “If we don’t’ do as well as we did last year I hope the girls won’t be too disappointed but they know nothing good ever comes easy without hard work,” says Coach Rindone. “They also know that if they want to repeat last year they will have to get themselves there.”
Coach Rindone will be assisted by Jennifer Gibbs, a teacher at the middle school, and Jake Wilcox will assist on a part time basis.
OC’s first game will be a scrimmage against Madison County at home on Friday, February 10th.
There will be a parent meeting of the girls’ soccer team at 6pm on Thursday, January 26th, in the media center. However, if the boys meeting in the media center (scheduled to start at 5:30pm) is no completed, then the girls will meet in the cafeteria.
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