With the starting whistle on the Bear River Girls Soccer season about to go off, hopes are high that the team will build off of last year with the help of incoming freshmen and new recruits.

The players are optimistic for a good season based on confidence in an influx of talent.

“I really hope it goes well,” said Sophomore Ella Sartori. “We have a lot of new, incoming freshmen. I believe other people are coming to join, so I’m excited to see how it turns out.”

Fellow Sophomore Hannah Ingle had more modest expectations but still predicted improvement over last season.

“Honestly, I don’t really know [how the team will do],” Ingle said. “I feel like we might be a little better this year if there are the same girls playing because we might be more comfortable with each other and know how we all work.”

Longtime coach Joe Giovachinni also foresaw improvement based on the experience of the team.

“Well it is very hard to tell,” Coach Giovachinni said. “We do have a little bit more experience than last year, but there are still a lot of inexperienced players. So it is going to be probably a difficult year but I think the girls are going to be a little bit better off because of the experience they had last year.”

Similar to Sartori, Senior Samantha Giguiere has high hopes for the outcome of the season.

“I think it will be fun,” Giguiere said. “We have a big team this year so I think we’ll enjoy it and it will go pretty well.”

The team has formed a strong community that is always welcoming to all new teammates. When asked if she liked her team, Sartori felt very favorable towards the team.

“Yeah, for sure,” Sartori said. “Last year we all got quite close, just as a team. I’m excited to see all the new people coming in as well because that should add to the family sort of feel.”

Ingle enthusiastically praised her team using one main word to describe them.

“My team is excellent,” Ingle said. “The people are fun, there’s nothing bad about my team so they’re pretty excellent.”

The team had mixed opinions about Coach Giovachinni, but the general consensus was that he was a good coach.

“Yes, he helps us out a lot,” Sartori said. “He’s very nice and kind.”

Ingle also agreed to Sartori about their coach.

“Our coach, he’s a very good coach,” said Ingle. “I think he should be a little more easy on us considering some of us don’t know how to play. Other than that he’s pretty good.”

Though the team has high hopes and great chemistry, they will need to work to make their dreams reality. There’s plenty of room for improvement both for the team and individually.

“I think [we need to improve on] communication,” said Ingle. “We can work more on our communication with each other. That would make things a lot easier.”

No one thinks they are perfect on this team. They all said that they see some areas where they can improve.

“Being more aware of my opponents’ strategies and what they do,” Giguiere said.

Other players felt that there was room to improve personally on all facets of the game.

“Just the entire sport probably,” said Sartori. “but learning how to better communicate with the team to make it turn out better.”

This team has plenty of fun with each other and through the experience of some players, good coaching, and the help of incoming freshmen and new recruits, they can shoot for a great season.