There’s high school sports. Then there’s everything else. Striking a balance between the two is rarely as hard as it was for the Hazen girls soccer team this season.
“This season’s honestly been like an emotional roller coaster,” said senior Sarah Schoville. “You want to do so well every time out, but each team is going to have its downfalls and you have to learn from them.”
The Highlanders didn’t have many downfalls on the field. Hazen went 11-3-5 and finished undefeated in league play at 7-0-4. The team took the league’s top 3A seed into the playoffs. But what made this team special is what it went through off the field.
The team lost Hazen custodian and long-time superfan Joe Dahl and Lora Michaud, long-time supporter and mother of a current Hazen player, during the season.
“When you have to sit through two memorial services as a teenager for people that everybody here knew and everybody here loved, you realize there’s something else in life,” Matthews said. “It’s a pretty mature group of people.”
The losses were an inspiration for the team.
“We’re definitely more like a family now,” said freshman Emma Lorrigan, who spent time with both JV and varsity this season.
“It has brought us closer together,” said sophomore Courtney Kitely. “We have something to play for now. We want to impress them.”
Another hurdle the team got over was being competitive against Kennedy Catholic. And while three ties, while leading for much of the time in all three games, may go down bitter for some, it’s sweet for those who have context.
“I’ve been on the team losing against Kennedy 10-0,” Schoville said. “It was definitely a disappointment immediately after the first couple of ties, but I wasn’t heartbroken.”
One of the biggest differences this season was the addition of junior midfielder Dee Dee Green, a transfer from Kennedy. She brought an extra bit of intensity to the team.
“You always want to beat your old team,” Green said. “I had a little more fire in those games.”
After transferring, Green had to sit out part of the early season until she became eligible, something incredibly difficult for her. But once she was able to get on the field, she made an impact right away.
“She’s a very good soccer player, but what she brings to our team is kind of that warrior mentality,” Matthews said. “Sometimes it’s very difficult to find high school teams with that and she brings it for us.”
Green’s first game was against Highline Sept. 22. She scored in each of her first three games with the Highlanders.
In the end the Highlanders missed state by the slimmest of margins when Kelso knocked in a goal with 49 seconds left in a winner-to-state playoff game Nov. 5. Even so, there’s definitely something brewing at Hazen.
The Highlanders lose big-time contributors in seniors like Schoville, Marina Vaughn and Priscilla Yu, but there is plenty of young talent around. The program is building confidence and talent each season.
“It’s a lot more competitive out here than last year,” said sophomore Melissa Carney. “It’s just different, we work a lot harder together.”
