During the 2009 season, varsity field hockey won three games. Last season, they won five.
This year, field hockey finished the season with an 11-8 record. It is field hockey’s best finish in recent years.
This is indicative of the overall performance of fall sports at South Lakes.
Volleyball, for example, won 15 matches last season and looks to equal or better that record this season. Volleyball suffered through a losing season in 2010.
Last year, boys cross country placed third in districts while the girls placed sixth. This year, both are favorites to win districts, scheduled for Oct. 24.
This year, girls golf five of the six team members qualified for regionals. Senior golfer Eugenia Witherow won the first annual Liberty District Tournament.
Consistency in team growth, intensity of effort, and leadership tend to attribute to this increased success.
“It was definitely the motivation and dedication of our coaches and the fact that our team is like a family, and we really wanted to do well this season and change our reputation,” field hockey junior midfielder Olivia Wolfe said.
Some did not depend on experienced seniors to reach success.
“Considering that we lost a lot of really good runners, we are still doing very well,” senior cross country runner Jason Valenzuela said. “We have a lot of good freshmen that came in.”
Cross country runners increased their level of preparation for this season, having two practices a day over the summer compared to just one a day the previous year.
“Our endurance has improved and we can get through the pain,” freshman Charlie Hoffman said. “We do more mile repeats now.”
Fall teams have built momentum at a gradual rate during the past several years
“I’m proud of my team and I think we have a really bright future for the rest of the season,” senior captain Annemarie Bresson said. “I have been on varsity for four years and from our first year our record was like 4-10 which is disgusting, but now we are already 12-8 so it’s already one of the better seasons we’ve had, and I think we can go really far.”
Coming out of a bad season and attempting to reap success is something that many fall teams faced. However, varsity football continues to rebuild following its 2010 season where they finished 8-4, winning its first round playoff game and defeating Herndon in eight years.
Last year football slogged through a 1-9 season. So far this year, they have won two games with 3 left in the schedule.
“Last year, there were eight starting sophomores and we’re all bigger and faster now that we’re juniors,” junior defensive lineman Alex Woodward said.
Woodward’s teammates share this view.
“The team has become more disciplined since last year and more mature,” senior captain Jake Andrich said. “We’ve grown as a team. We’re more experienced because the team was so young, we were sophomores and everything, so then this year everyone’s older now and we’re more mature and they’ve gained more experience.”
Even though football faces another losing season they still see this season as a great improvement.
“It’s a privilege to be the captain of the team,” Andrich said. “I’m proud of the team. I’m proud of how far we’ve come and we still have a shot at the playoffs, so we can definitely do it based on the rest of our season as long as we just keep up the good work.”
