Monday, Oct. 6, Lakewood High School’s varsity girls soccer team celebrated Senior Night to honor and bid farewell to all the seniors. Playing against the Fairview Warriors, the Lakewood Rangers won 1-0.
Friends, family, coaches, and staff alike came together to support the nine seniors: Alex Adamov, Tessa Carlin, Ella Daniels, Ruby Fraunfelder, Erin Gerity, Gwen Hongosh, Freya Lewis, Nora Lipka, and Htoo K Pru Wah.
The girls played an intense game against Fairview, scoring once in the first half and playing strong defense to maintain the lead.
“Coming in as a freshman, they always…were welcoming from the start, and they just, like, encourage me when I’m in the field and they’re on the sidelines,” said freshman varsity player Chloe Carroll.
The girls’ soccer team has a whopping five freshmen on varsity, making it a young team. Having a range of all grades on the varsity team has made the team stronger, both emotionally and logistically. Friendships have been created and grown over the course of the season, and the seniors have done a great job leading the underclassmen.
“Our seniors have demonstrated the leadership that we needed for the team to kind of, like, move forward as a group. Like, they show up, they work hard at practice. Nobody’s making excuses about, you know, not being here,” said head coach John Stalzer. “Underclassmen have certainly learned how to be good teammates in terms of working hard and whatnot, because our core values are work hard, dream big. And so our seniors have exhibited that, and hopefully, the underclassmen have picked that up.”
The leadership skills demonstrated by the seniors have led to only two losses for the varsity team, which currently holds a record of 4-6-2.
Along with friendships made with underclassmen, the seniors have grown their love for soccer and for each other while reveling in their last year together.
“Just building the chemistry with each other, especially with really young, talented freshmen…I think it’s just really important,” said senior captain Ruby Fraunfelder.
While the seniors have worked hard to be leaders for their entire team and to make their school proud, they have also had to juggle coming to terms with the end of their high school soccer careers.
“It’s really crazy because it’s gone by super fast, and just going through it with all the same people tonight and like…celebrating our night tonight as seniors is just like surreal to me, because I’ve been playing with all these girls since I was so young. So like, I think I’m very lucky to have done it with everyone that we’re celebrating by my side,” Fraunfelder said.
Fraunfelder has been playing soccer since she was four years old with many of her current teammates. Others have only started their soccer careers as high school athletes. Despite their differences in years of experience, the girls have put in endless hours of effort and hard work to contribute to their team’s success.
“It’s not just the seniors’ team. So what they’ve done is they’ve earned everything. You know, our seniors have not just been given their playing time and their roles as captains and things like that, just because they’re seniors,” said Stalzer.
The seniors have left a strong impression on their teammates that they will be sure to carry with them for the rest of their soccer careers.
“I would say Ruby definitely had a very good impact, because she’s just like, such a leader, and I’m gonna get to play basketball with her, too. And she’s just…really encouraging,” said Carroll. “[Ruby says] never take anything for granted, and enjoy the season while it lasts, and always just be confident, and support your teammates.”
As the soccer season ends, all the players are sure to appreciate their time together, both on and off the field.
