Following the girls’ varsity soccer team’s controversial performance at Friday’s pep rally, in which the senior players walked the length of the field pulling leashes looped around the necks of some of the freshmen players, who crawled on their hands and knees, many people have formed opinions about what, if any, consequences the team should face.
On Thursday, September 26, after school, players were informed that three seniors and three juniors would be suspended for the following day’s game against Ridgefield High School, according to several sources on the team.
As a result, a number of junior varsity players will participate in tomorrow’s varsity game, and several freshman players will play for junior varsity. This adjustment is especially untimely because Ridgefield is known as very tough competition, players said. Members of both teams acknowledge that it will be considerably more difficult playing alongside unfamiliar players.
“It’s always kind of hard to play with new girls because the team is still learning how each other plays after a month of playing [together],” said varsity player Addy Fowle ’15. “Throwing in other girls for a game could be a little difficult, but they’re all really good and are definitely going to help us because this is just a bad situation.”
A junior varsity team member who will be substituting in the varsity game and wished to remain anonymous agreed that this rearrangement presents a challenge.
“I think it will definitely affect the first half [of the game] because there will be a lot of us trying to adjust to each others playing styles and learning names,” she said, adding that being notified farther in advance would not have made much of a difference.
“It’s not a really big deal. It would have been a little easier had we been able to practice with them today so we could get to know each other a little bit better before playing such a challenging team like Ridgefield, but overall it wouldn’t have made a huge difference.”
While team members say it will be inconvenient to play without the suspended players, especially their starters, they recognize the importance of playing tomorrow’s game to the best of their ability.
“All the captains sent out emails and talked to us to make sure everyone knew how sorry they were,” said Fowle. “And we’ll have the girls who were suspended cheering us on.”
Overall, the girls said they are taking the suspensions in stride and that they feel lucky that it is only for one game.
“I’m sure we’ll do fine,” said Fowle. “We might not win, but all we can really do at this point is work as hard as we can and try and make the best out of the situation we’re in.”
The girls’ coach said she would prefer not to respond to questions at this time.
