Women's soccer achieves more than goals this season

By Corrine McCallum
Cardinal Staff

Senior Heidi Martin Looks for a pass.
Photo by Peter Nyhus

As the women’s soccer season came to an end, the Cardinals connected both on and off the field, and the women bonded, despite the amount of new players on the team, said head coach Neil Cassidy.

“The single biggest item that we have been focusing on is becoming a family off the field,” said Cassidy. “I truly felt that this group of incredible young women achieved that.”

Senior defensive player, Heidi Martin said, “We came together early in the season, and I could not have asked for a better group of girls. There is not one thing that I would change about our team this year because we truly were a family on and off the field.”

With a season of no wins, there were still many positives that came out of this season, said Martin. “We lost a lot of players last year and had a very young team this year,” She said. “We welcomed a big freshman class and I was unsure of how this would work out, but it was obvious early in the season that this would not affect our team chemistry.”

This year’s roster comprised of 21 freshmen and sophomores, one junior and four seniors. “The obstacle was forming partnerships, but we made great strides and we can only build off of that for our season next year,” said Cassidy.

As Cassidy looks forward to another season, he said, “The energy, willingness to work and improve in the off season is truly outstanding.”

Cassidy said he has sat down with each returning player and put goals into place for the upcoming year. “Their goals have been set in four components, technical, tactical, psychological and physical,” he said.

As this is Martin’s last season of being a Cardinal, she said, “There were a lot of great memories created this season that I will never forget and I think at the end of the day that is what matters most.”