The South Oldham Lady Dragons started their year with a 6-4 record, winning four consecutive games before spring break.
The win streak began with a sweep of their pool at the Icebreaker Invitational. South Oldham head coach Bob Newton feels like the team started to gain some momentum with its first win of the season in an overtime thriller on March 11 against Ballard. He feels like the attention to detail has really shown during the win steak.
“We got our first-ever victory over Manual, which is one of the top teams here in the state year in, year out,” Newton said. “[We] had redemption against Mercy from our first game this season and played a tough Atherton team. It was a good weekend. They played hard, and that’s the biggest concern that I have right now.”
Newton lost 11 seniors, 75% of the team’s scoring and 80% of the assists from last year. With so much turnover, he’s starting to see a lot of his players grow throughout the season.
“Everybody was on the same page defensively,” Newton said. “The [midfielders] were doing a great job of getting back and getting set. Everybody was communicating. We’re turning it around. Basically on the rebuild, everybody’s figuring it out and playing strong.”
He began the season with eight seniors. However, one of his senior captains, Emily Jones was injured in January and is out for the season. He’s seen other seniors step up in Jones’ absence.
“These seniors have done a great job, our captains and the other seniors as well,” Newton said. “Team cohesion, everybody working together. The team spirit is really good with this group, and they’re listening and leading also, so it’s really good.”
Jones tore her ACL at the start of the season, but being one of the captains on the team, she looks to still lead the team from the sidelines. She wants the team to have a positive environment and lay the foundation for the younger players to build upon.
“I haven’t really seen much playing time, but I’ve been putting my work in PT,” Jones said. “Having more of a leadership role from the sidelines, that’s taught me a lot about being a leader and seeing the game from a different perspective.”
Fellow senior Ella Toe has seen Jones take her new role on the team in stride.
“She’s definitely stepped into more of a coaching role, which has helped all of us, and we can just learn from her about our own game,” Toe said. “She’ll point out things that we need to focus on. That’s really helpful.”
With a big offensive piece missing from last year in Reagan Rogers, Toe wants to help step into that role.
“This year, we’ve had to rely on different people,” Toe said. “I’d say for me, it’s just getting more comfortable in having to score more goals than I would last year.”
Toe felt the team really came together during the Icebreaker Invitational.
“It wasn’t about the winning,” Toe said. “...We played really well together as a team, and we had good team chemistry. It’s coming all together finally, so it’s good to see that.”
The Lady Dragons let up over 10 goals in their first four games of the season. In their last six, they have allowed more than 10 goals once. Senior Reese Hall has seen the defense work and improve during practice.
“We really seen their focus in practice and seeing them really work together and find out what they needed to improve on and what they needed to do to really get that defensive set, so that we can drive this defense and get that ball up to the offense and score some goals,” Hall said. “The less goals that are scored against us, the better. I think as the season is going on, we’re able to realize that more and make sure that the ball doesn’t get in the back of that net.”
Hall wants the younger players to know that the seniors are there for them and creating relationships with them is important for their growth and the growth of the program.
“We can accommodate that. We were able to work with the seniors for three years, so we were able to see all of their expertise, and we were able to see what shoes needed to be filled as they left,” Hall said. “We’ve been able to do that, we’ve been able to find new girls to fill their shoes too. We’re just really excited with the team that we have this year and continuing to grow.”
Newton has been working with his captains and upperclassmen since August to get them ready to fill in the shoes left behind from last year. He’s really depending upon his sophomore class of seven players.
“The leadership day in and day out, keeping the team focused and the sophomores becoming more adept to their roles on the team and just being more sure of themselves,” Newton said. “Last year, they were all on JV and now thrown into the deep end on varsity. It’s a big challenge right there, but they’re doing a good job right now. I’m very pleased with their progress.”
With South losing the majority of its offensive production, Newton has gotten players to fill those roles. He’s seen Hall develop a strong ability to find her open teammates and earn assists. Senior Alex McGill has done a great job of finishing, and Toe is a gamer that can play both sides. Newton also has seen contributions from junior Makenna Touro on offense.
“As talented as they are right there, let’s fill in her spot out on the roll,” Newton said. “We’re starting to pick it up right now. I’m very happy. Those are probably our top four right now, but the sophomores, if you leave them alone, they’re going to hurt you. It’s good.”
Hall has seen Toe, Touro and McGill be key pieces to the offense and has allowed the team to put up points.
“Our mids Ella Toe and Makenna Touro have been really good and a really integral part of getting the ball from the defense back to the offense to where our attack man Alex McGill, and our other attack men can really get some goals and make sure we get some points up on the board,” Hall said.
Sophomores Hannah Hayes and Greta Bushue have caught the attention of Jones. Both weren’t expected to start but have filled in roles on the team.
“They’ve both been working really hard to fill that, and they’ve been doing a really good job,” Jones said.
The Lady Dragons rotate two goalies this year, sophomores Angela Soto and Kayla Klein. Both are new to the goalie position. Newton likes the athlete Soto is, because she plays two sports. He’s also been impressed with Klein as well with moving from attacker to goalie.
“I watched KK sit there in a JV game against North and have a fabulous game,” Newton said. “[At the Icebreaker Invitational], Soto had a great game. We have two quality goalies right there we can go with at the either time.”
Toe has seen Soto and Klein really step up and embrace their role as the goalie.
“As they become more confident, they’re really growing in that role,” Toe said. “They’re getting a ton of saves, and they’re really helping our defense. Most of our defense, we didn’t return a lot of starting defense. A lot of people have stepped up, especially juniors and sophomores.”
Hall has seen juniors Marin Redfield and Adeline Chastain, senior Lilah Menard and Alyssa Cooke be key pieces of the defense this year.
“[Menard] has just really been a big part of maintaining our defense and being a leader on the defensive side,” Hall said.
Newton has liked what he’s seen from some of the younger players. Bushue and Hayes really improved on both offense and defense and became important pieces of both. He’s seen Cooke be an anchor for the defense. He’s also been impressed with sophomore Kenzie Summers.
“Kenzie hit the game winner against Ballard in overtime, which is a pretty big shot for a sophomore to be able to take,” Newton said. “I had perfect faith that she could get the job done.”
South Oldham’s last game before its spring break was against its county rival, the North Oldham Lady Mustangs on March 28. The Lady Dragons won 14-7. Newton felt like, before the game, the Lady Mustangs were a much improved team. He wanted to see his team bring their A game.
“We just can’t show up and expect to win,” Newton said. “If we don’t bring our A game, they’ll take us out, basically with us starting on defense. Lilah Menard, our senior leader on defense, is doing a fabulous job day in, day out, keeping everybody aligned. The other players I have on defense as well are doing a fabulous job. That’s where it starts with us. We have to lock down on defense or you’re just going to be in a bunch of battles that you don’t want to be in.”
For his seniors, Newton wants them to leave a legacy. That starts with the day in, day out work in practice.
“Now that we’re more focused and everybody is getting used to their roles, it makes a big difference,” Newton said. “When they leave here, I want them to know that they’re leaving a legacy. They’re building it up better for the next class that comes after them and keep getting us better and better and better, so we stay competitive with all the top teams in the state.”
Hall wants the team to make it to the state tournament this year.
“I think that’s something that we can be really proud of, and looking back in 20 years, I’ll be excited to say that in my senior season we were able to get to the state tournament,” Hall said. “I’m hoping that is something that we can accomplish this year as a team.”
Jones wants to remember being able to use the weight room for the first time ever and being able to put their spin on workouts this year.
“We had the opportunity to use the weight room for the first time this year and teach some of our underclassmen how to lift weights with correct form,” Jones said. “That was really meaningful to me and such a great opportunity. I hope that we can say that we might have shifted that into more of a tradition in the future.”