Girls Soccer: New Coach, Returning Talent to Make for Promising Season

The varsity girls soccer team is looking to start the season off on the right foot during Monday afternoon’s opener.

Returning players are confident that the team can improve on last year’s 5-13 mark. Another thing they’re confident about is the guidance they are receiving from coach Sal Zuccaro.

“He knows how to set up the field, he sees the game,” Brewster junior midfielder Kristen Ohberg said. “He knows how we play and where we should be. He’s very direct, to the point and is an excellent coach. If we listen to him, we will do well.”

Part of Zuccaro’s advice came in the form of preseason strengthening, when the girls ran more than two miles each day, according to co-captain and forward Megan Yarusso.

“I can see already that our team is improving,” she said. “In the past, maybe we just did a lap or two. Every single girl on our team is in good shape this year. That’s really important because we were usually so tired at the end of the first half of a game.”

Ohberg and Yarusso are key returning players for the Bears. The former is coming off a season where she registered four goals and nine assists, for a total of 17 points — the second highest on last year’s squad. Yarusso tallied nine goals and three assists for 21 points a year ago.

The pair is hoping the experience they had on the varsity girls lacrosse team this past spring is something both they and their teammates can draw from as they head into the season.

“Being on a lacrosse team that went farther than it ever had before I think is important,” Yarusso said. “We learned from lacrosse that anything is possible if you want it really badly and are willing to work hard for it.”

Senior co-captains, defender Aine Chalmers, midfielder Lauren Noce and goalie Rori Stark, along with junior midfielder Jess Devaux, are four other key players the Bears will rely on this fall.

“Kristen and Lauren, they work really well together,” Yarusso said. “Aine is able to take control of the defense, that’s really important, and Rori in goal pumps all of us up. She will tell us when we need to push ourselves to help us get the ball down the field. All of our leaders push everyone.”

Another motivator for a great season is , which the girls practiced on over the summer.

“I have been dying to play on a field like that since I have been playing sports," Ohberg said. "I am very excited for the season and to see how we do in a real game after playing in a couple of scrimmages during the preseason.”