Holt Soccer Continues Positive Trend

For the past few seasons, the soccer girls have been making steps in the right direction. Next, they’ll be looking to open a stride.

Jumping off from just a three-win season in 2008, the Indians followed with five victories in 2009 and six in 2010. This season the team notched eight wins, including a 4-3 win over Fort Zumwalt North in the opening round of the district tournament. Holt finished 8-17, but more than half of those losses were by one goal.

“We had a lot of one-goal games, and a couple two-goal games in there,” said Indians coach Bobby Nicholson, who finishes his fifth season. “Those were competitive games, where one goal would tie it or completely change the outlook of the game. We just had trouble finding the back of the net this year, I think that was the real story of our season.”

The Indians netted just 24 goals in 2011, the same amount as last spring – but this time off of fresh feet. Junior forward Julie Ireland (9 goals, 1 assist) led the Indians in scoring, upping her production from five goals last season, and sophomore forwards Kam Taouil (5 goals) and Brittney Crain (3 goals, 1 assist) both contributed in their first varsity season. Of Crain’s three goals, two of them were game-winners.

“About a quarter of the way into the season, we moved (Crain) up top to get into the attack,” Nicholson said. “She has got some good technical skills and certainly came through to score when we needed it – she got the double-OT game-winner in the opening round of districts. That propelled us into playing a real competitive game against Fort Zumwalt West in the semifinals.”

The Indians’ season came to an end with a 1-0 loss in the district semifinal, another one-goal loss to define the season. Despite the frustration that comes with so many close losses, it served as more proof of the Indians defining their focus.

“From our graduating class last year, we lost a lot of defenders,” Nicholson said. “And our unit this year did an outstanding job keeping us in games. If we were able to find the back of the net, they were able to keep us competitive in those games.

“It was a really nice thing to see this year: that team effort. Girls picking each other up and striving for that outcome.”

Like on offense, the names of that budding defensive unit will be back for more next season. Meghan Potthoff and Melissa Patchin will return as seniors next year, and Sarah Kirkwood will build on a solid freshman campaign this season.

“We have a nice young core,” Nicholson said. “Putting up eight wins this year has us definitely looking forward to see what next year gets us. If these sophomores and juniors can keep progressing like they have for the past year or two, then we should be pretty competitive in conference and district.

“We’re building. The program is slowly but surely taking baby steps. We’re starting to get more upper-level club players out in the area, and with the population growth we’ve had in the district, we have more and more athletes coming in. As a coach, that’s a nice thing to have – except for tryouts. It just makes the decisions more difficult.”