Girls’ Soccer is Headed Up

The first ever Maple Mountain Girls’ Soccer team has started off with a big bang! The Lady Golden Eagles region play began on Tuesday, September 1, with a winning game, following an already great pre-season with only one loss. Currently, the Lady Golden Eagles have an 8-1 record; remarkable for their first year. “The girls have played extraordinarily well as a team,” says Coach Carolyn Swenson. In one particular game, after MMHS made the 8th goal, coach Swenson instituted a rule that before they could score another goal the ball had to be passed to each player and then taken to the other side of the field and back again. After creating the rule halfway into the game, the Lady Golden Eagles scored another four goals! Of all nine games played, MMHS has scored an amazing total of 44 goals. With a new team comes a new coach, Carolyn Swenson. Carolyn immediately jumped in and has done a great job encouraging and coaching her players. In early May, Coach Swenson held a meeting for all of those interested in trying out for the 2009-2010 soccer season. At that time, she gave each girl a workout schedule. The training schedule consisted of a different series of exercises for each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday in June. These workouts were proposed to help with running, endurance, and muscle strength. The workout schedule was intended to help the girls that wanted to try out for soccer to get into shape for the coming season. Carolyn’s hope was that this advanced training schedule would give the girls and team an edge if they came into the season already conditioned. Obviously, the advanced conditioning has worked. After encouraging the girls to get into shape, Coach Swenson held a three day soccer camp at the end of June. The camp’s focus was to hone blocking, passing, and foot skills. The camp helped to prepare girls that were interested in trying out for the team. Coach Swenson continued to hold conditioning and training sessions every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout July, dedicating a large portion of her summer vacation to preparing for the first ever MMHS girls’ soccer team. We are lucky to have a dedicated coach such as Carolyn Swenson leading girls’ soccer. Congratulations, Lady Golden Eagles, to a great start!