Central’s girls’ soccer team has been on a roll this season, and they show no signs of slowing down. Led by head coach Mr. Johns, the team has started the season with a staggering record of 12 wins, 3 ties, and 1 loss. After winning the public league championship against Franklin Towne Charter, the girls continued their winning streak when they beat Archbishop Carroll High School for the District 12 championship title on November 3rd. The players have been working extremely hard to prepare for these intense games, as they have had only two days off of practice so far. Senior teammate Amelia Cucchiara (281) shared, “We work really hard in practice… I think our dedication really shows in our level of play.” This level of play is not unfamiliar for the girls by any means. They came into this season fresh out of winning a public league championship last year, and have continued to live up to their reputation.
While some of the team’s success can be attributed to the players’ work ethic and dedication to practicing, Coach Johns plays a big role. He enforces a demanding and relentless coaching method where every player is expected to be constantly improving their skills. This creates a positive environment with the players, and the girls feel determined to work even harder and always do their best. Fiona Fuller (282) spoke on this, saying, “It has everyone encouraging each other, the teammates are pushing everybody to work harder and play better.” This style is just tough love, as Mr. Johns often emphasizes to his team that they are a family. This helps the players prioritize being happy for one another and heartening their teammates. Courtney Mckenna (281) talked about this aspect of their team when she said, “Even when we’re down we’re still cheering each other on, with other teams you don’t really see that… We encourage each other all the way through no matter what the score is.” Even though a connection between teammates is always present with the girls’ soccer team, it has been more difficult to maintain the energy in the past couple of seasons due to Covid.
One of the largest impacts of the pandemic on the squad is their team bonding. With 27 players on the roster (the most that Mr. Johns has ever had), it is very important that everyone knows their teammates on a personal level and is connected off of the field. This bond is harder to maintain due to Covid restrictions since meeting outside of school has become uncommon. Junior player Evelyn Shmidt (282) talked about the team bonding her freshman year compared to the last 2 seasons: “(we) had a bunch of small get-togethers outside of school… we got to know each other more personally other than just the game… last year we couldn’t do much at all… now that it’s easing up a bit we can start trying to do a little bit more team bonding.” Evelyn is hopeful that the team can become more connected outside of soccer once again.
With the incredible success of the soccer team so far this season, it is impossible not to think about the future. Mr. Johns has already accomplished his goals for this year to win the public league championship again and to get to the district 12 championship game, which now presents the team the opportunity to possibly make it farther in the state playoffs. Right now, though, Mr. Johns and all of the players are keeping their heads down and going one game at a time. They are simply looking to improve their play and build their team chemistry every day. If the Central girls’ soccer team continues to work hard and win games, their goals will all be well within reach this year.
The Centralizer 