- May 5, 2024
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After finishing the season at 19-4-2, and nearly advancing to the Elite Eight, it’s frightening to think we just witnessed the worst Seabreeze girls soccer team that will run out onto the field over the next couple of years, especially knowing they just barely lost by penalty kicks. While this may seem harsh and erroneous upon first mention, hear me out.
Of their 22-man roster, the Sandcrabs will only lose seniors Hailey Beach, Elizabeth Murray and Sarah Myers; tough cleats to fill, I agree. They were the leaders who brought this young team together, quickly, which enabled this unexpected success.
But, the 19 returning girls—of whom 16 are underclassmen—will even be more experienced, and who knows what freshman talent they will bring…
Also, consider this. Nearly all of the Sandcrabs’ high-powered offense is returning, which includes junior Madison Politis, sophomore Alauna Neely and freshman Abby Gabriel, who together accounted for over half of the team’s goals and assists. Of the 108 goals scored this season, only 20 were scored by seniors. Of those 108 goals, Seabreeze assisted on all but four of them, and the seniors only accounted for 10 of those.
On the defensive side of the ball, where the Lady Sandcrabs dominated their opposition, allowing just 31 goals in 25 games—seven against FPC in one game—the same is true. Seabreeze will lose both Myers and Beach, but, preparing for the upcoming years, Seabreeze was able to compete with its younger players, thereby getting them experience.
Freshman goal keeper Caroline Diefendorf played in 16 games this season as backup to Beach, but she still managed to register over 600 minutes and block 42 shots, almost as many as her starter, in less games.
“With only losing three seniors this year, we will hopefully return 19 players that already know and trust each other, know my expectations of the team and understand the dynamics in which we play,” coach Kim Merkel said. “So, we will be way ahead early in the season, which will allow us to jump right in and get to work immediately on our team training and tactics.”
If they nearly reached the Elite Eight this season with very little experience, I’m expecting a Lady Sandcrabs’ Final Four berth at least once in the next two seasons, but we’ll see.
