Northeast Girls Committed To Different Results In 2011

By Colin Murphy

Things are going to be different in 2011.

That’s the message coming from the Northeast High School girls soccer team as they opened up preseason practices the week of August 15. The Eagles return eight seniors from last year’s squad, and, despite having their first few practices forced indoors due to thunder and lightning, the girls are feeling confident about how the team is coming together at this early point in the season.

“We all work really well together… We’ve played together a lot, and our strength is our age,” said senior sweeper Amber Andino between conditioning drills at the team’s indoor practice on August 18. “We have a lot of heart and we’re going to fight this year.”

Andino will anchor a defense that second-year Head Coach Brittany Owen says is just one part of a team that is already showing great improvement from 2010.

“We’re just at a higher standard this year than we were last year,” said Owen during the August 18 practice. “The morale, the attitude, the willingness… they want to have a good season this year, a winning program.”

The Eagle players’ eagerness to work on their game was on full display at practice on August 18. After spending the first 30 minutes of practice taking shots on goal and running 3-on-2 drills on the fields at Tick Neck Park, the team was forced inside by inclement weather, though they were not-at-all slowed down.

Trading cleats for sneakers and turf for the linoleum hallways, the girls likewise shifted from working on passing and shooting into an intense conditioning session. The girls shouted out a constant stream of encouragement to one another amidst sprints, wall-sits, and plyometrics. While the weather-disrupted practices are somewhat frustrating, Coach Owen says the conditioning is “getting there,” and Andino remarked that the team is making the most of all their practice sessions.

“It definitely helps us to just do conditioning for a while, and then when we get back out there we can work on just getting our touches on the ball,” she said.

Fellow senior Ally Luttrell agrees. She sees a level of intensity and focus in her teammates that wasn’t necessarily there at the beginning of last season.

“We’re taking it very seriously and we’re getting in better shape to start the season,” said Luttrell, who plays in the midfield and wants to see her school rising in the area’s soccer ranks. “At Northeast, we just need to keep working up,” continued Luttrell, marking rungs of an imaginary ladder with one hand as she spoke. “Don’t give up, keep trying to get better and better… we might lose to teams, but we can’t get down. We have to always keep our heads up.”