“Overall, we’ve been doing great,” said Head Coach Jim Burnside. Despite the multiple injuries, the team was still able to make it to the Semifinals of the Pepsi Showdown—where it lost to Buffalo Grove 1-0.
However, that game was only the team’s second loss of the season. The team’s record through April 26 is 11-1-2 and are 4-0-1 in the conference.
At the game on Tuesday, April 16, the Trevians tied 2-2 with Maine South after coming back from a 2-1 deficit. “Not the best game, but we played hard,” said Burnside.
Burnside said he thought the team’s weakness during that game was the lack of organization. Yet, even though the girls may have not played their best, he was quick to add that the team’s main strength during that game was “everyone contributed.”
“We started off pretty slow and didn’t connect a lot of passes,” added Nora Mabie senior captain and defenseman, “However, towards the end of the game we had a lot of energy which allowed us to create some great scoring opportunities.”
Berman also added that part of the problem in Tuesday’s game were the officials.
“The officials weren’t necessarily working in our favor which was frustrating,” she said. “But as Burnside always says, ‘we can only control the controlables’ so we just played our game and moved the ball around.”
Overall this season, Burnside said the team’s strengths are the ability to work together and the ability to adapt to new positions. He added, “Something we are working on is learning new positions.”
Those “new positions” are what many players will continue to work on as a few of their teammates are injured with ACL, LCL, and broken foot injuries.
With four players injured, several players have stepped up to fill the gaps.
Berman said, “People have, too, been put in situations out of their comfort zone and really stepped up big time. For example, Sarah Connors has been playing left back for us since freshman year, but recently started playing in one of the center midfield roles and has really made an impact on the field.”
“In response to some injuries, people have been doing a great job stepping into new positions and working hard,” added Mabie.
In addition to getting comfortable in playing at different spots on the field, another obstacle for the team was Metea Valley. “They are very good, and we won,” said Burnside.
Yet, different positions and playing Metea Valley have not been the only obstacles for the team this year. Getting used to a team without “four great seniors” has been a minor adjustment.
“We lost a couple of great seniors—captains Rachel Shellenback and Aly Marzonie,” said Burnside. However, “we’ve done a good job filling gaps and we have become more involved in offense.”
Recently, the team played GBN and won 3-1 and also played in the Naperville Tournament and won both games (against Sandburg and Benet).
Mabie said, “This tournament is always a good challenge for our team, and it is also a fun weekend for team bonding.”
Beyond the Naperville Invitational, Berman said she’s “looking forward to the rest of our normal season and then of course post season. Post season is when the competition really starts heating up and teams begin to drop one by one. It seems scary, but it’s also really fun and exciting.”
He added the lack of experience would be the part of the game his team needs to improve the most.
“With all of the injuries, our seniors have been our rocks and stepped up to lead the team,” said Burnside.
“Our freshman goal keepers have done a good job stepping into a new position this year,” he added.
“Being New Trier, we play with a target on our backs. Every team has a goal to ‘beat New Trier,’” said Berman, “That said, we have a lot of responsibility to take advantage of our opportunities and show teams that we don’t mess around.”