MORGANTOWN – On the heels of a season in which the MHS girls soccer team finished 15-4-1 and reached the sectional title game, head coach Stirlin Rivers and his players have their eyes set on one goal: a state championship.
With a good mix of experience and leadership, Rivers says his team have kept the same mindset that they had a season ago.
“The goals are the same really,” he said. “Our short term goal is to take each game on their own merits and prepare for each opponent differently. Our long term goal is the same as last year to win it all.”
Despite falling to Wheeling Park in sectionals and missing out on a state tournament appearance, MHS dominated throughout the season.
The Mohigan offense tallied 100 total goals throughout the season, while only allowing opponents to score 10 on the defensive side. Many of the players from a year ago that were key contributors to the efforts of MHS will be back for the 2022 campaign and back on the quest for a state title.
“This year we will be depending on Gracie Brown a Junior Captain, Lillian Staples a Sophomore Captain, Ashleigh Weaver a Senior Captain, Cloe Ratliff a Senior Captain and Madysen Scheller a Senior Goal Keeper who was also West Virginia Goal Keeper of the Year, last season,” Rivers listed his players and captains. “We also have other players that are integral to the way we play the game and to the success we will have this season.”
“We know that we can create opportunities in attack against any team, but our mentality has always been, if we don’t get scored on, then we cannot lose the game. We take a lot of pride in keeping a clean sheet each game.”
A clean sheet is achieved when your opponents are unable to score a goal throughout the entirety of a game in soccer. MHS managed 12 of those last season, only allowing 10 goals all season, as mentioned before.
The Mohigans will once again play a decently-difficult game schedule, beginning next Wednesday with a home game against Buckhannon-Upshur. Another home game against Bridgeport will close the month of August before MHS open September with a trip to Linsly. The first three game lead up to a highly-anticipated matchup against Wheeling Park, where MHS will look to avenge the sectional defeat.
“We need to play the best teams in the state. It strengthens the players mentally and physically game after game, playing against tough opponents,” Rivers said of the team’s schedule. “We also get to see what we have to deal with so we will be able to prepare better for the latter part of the season (Sectional, Regionals and States). It’s also nice to play team in different parts of West Virginia.”
Soccer at MHS has seen heavy success over the past few years, most-recently the boys team winning the 2021 state championship. Rivers says he has seen a change in passion for the sport from the players at the school. some of them now showing desire to play during the offseason and then continue to play after high school is over.
“In my time, soccer at MHS has evolved into a viable sporting career,” Rivers said of the growth of the sport. “Players are now desirous of continuing past high school, many going on to division 1 and 2 colleges and really developing their craft.”
“As a travel coach and a student of the game, my approach to the game is different to what I suppose would have been practiced in the past. I am more focused on developing players for a collegiate level soccer, beyond simple high school matriculation. “Every player knows they have a chance to be a starter which fosters a sense of self efficacy. They are encouraged and empowered to take responsibility for their behavior on and off the field, to set personal goals and to come prepared to work hard for each practice and game.”
The MHS girls team will begin its title run August 17th at 6:30PM when they host Buckhannon at Pony Lewis Field.
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