BROOKINGS The high school girls soccer season is underway and the Brookings Bobcats have already played four games.
Brookings has a record of 0-3-1 through four games. The Bobcats played to a 2-2 draw with Spearfish in the opening game of the season. They then lost to Pierre and Tea Area each by a score of 3-2 and fell to OGorman 4-1.
Despite the tough start in the win and loss column, Brookings head coach Adam Juba said that having an experienced team has allowed the Bobcats to stay in games and keep fighting. Brookings has seven seniors and Juba said those numbers let the Bobcats hit the ground running at the start of the season.
I think [having a lot of seniors] is going to be huge and its already shown. In high school sports when you have a good senior class thats been around for awhile in a specific sport, they just know how the game feels and theres not many jitters that we have to get out before the game starts. We can just come out and hit the ground running when the season starts. Thats why were so gritty and willing to battle with these teams and make them play 80 minutes with us, Juba said.
Juba added that the seven seniors all have had an impact on the team so far this season but there are two players that have stuck out so far.
Shae Lefers and Liv Ragsdale are our two senior captains. They have been instrumental in our team and lead the team and set the tone for our games and practices. All of the other seniors that we have also make an impact in their respective positions. They show the younger girls what its like to play hard and work hard. I think its fantastic. We also have some seniors that are coming off the bench but they allow us to have depth coming off of the bench as well. It provides us with depth and grit and soccer knowledge that makes us really competitive, Juba said.
Juba also highlighted players that arent seniors, including a junior who is one of the most important players on the team.
Rylee Briggs dictates play. Shes really vocal about where we need to move the ball. Shes just a workhorse in that [midfield/defense] position, which is what you need because they need to be able to run for a long time and be willing to be loud and dictate where play goes. Shes huge for us. We have a young pair of center backs [in Tori Deming and Berkley Stoltenberg]. .. Through these first four games theyre getting to know each other and compliment each other well, Juba said.
Juba has led the Bobcat girls program for a while now and said that this is the deepest team that he has coached. He likes the depth that they have and thinks there isnt much of a drop off when he subs in players.
This team, we have depth. When we go to our bench its not like were subbing in people that are going to drop our quality of play. They all know how to play and all understand their roles. When they go onto the field, its just seamless, Juba said.
Under Juba, the team has not won a first round playoff game. He said his team wrote down three goals at the beginning of the season and they all coincide with each other.
We wrote three goals together as a team. Our first goal we wrote was to host or win a first round playoff game. Our second goal was to achieve and maintain high levels of focus. The third one was to trust each other. The reason we chose the last two was because those second and third goals feed into that first goal. Those goals will help us be successful in hosting or winning a first round playoff game, Juba said.
Brookings hosts Watertown on Thursday at 6 p.m.
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