Patriots persevere through a shorthanded season

    MILO — When the 2013 season began in mid-August, the girls soccer team at Penquis Valley High School started practices with a roster of 16 players. After the Patriots’ second scrimmage a pair of girls decided not to continue playing and about halfway through the season another decided to stop, bringing the roster down to just 13.

Photo courtesy of Jen Baker

PATRIOTS KEPT ON PLAYING — During the season the number of players available to get on the field for the Penquis Valley High School girls soccer team dropped to as few as eight but the Patriots played through and finished with a 3-10-1 record. The players are, from left, Kayla Harmon, Lauren Worster, Megan Witham, Rachael Baker, Alyssa Murano, Allison Durant, Krista Dearborn, Jessica Preble, Courtney Bowers, Jordan Durant and Rebecca Pierce. In front is head coach Jeremy Bousquet and assistant coach Josh Bousquet.

    In the opening game Penquis had a player out with a concussion, and as the season progressed three different girls had concussions that forced each to miss at least one game. The injury bug continued as another player missed a game with rib injuries, another with a foot injury missed the final two games and other team members had some injuries where they needed to sit out. After progress reports came out the Patriots also had some academic issues and those girls affected had to sit out for two weeks.
    Throughout the regular season Penquis played one game with a roster of 13, four games with 12 players — with one game ending with 11 after an injury, two games with 11 players with one of these contests ending in a healthy total of 10 and two games with just 10 players suiting up. Five of the team’s 14 games featured just nine Patriot players on the field, some of which saw the team shrink yet again to eight after an injury requiring the player to sit on the bench.
    Speaking of playing with only nine players freshman Jordan Durant said, “Usually I was in goal during the time we were short, so it wasn’t too bad but when there where games where it was 5-0 and up it was stressful and I know everyone worked hard. You just have to stay positive.”
    “It made me angry that the girls who weren’t able to play because of grades let the team down and it took a lot out of us that were able to play,” sophomore Alyssa Murano said. “But we still went out there and played as hard as we could.”
    Senior Jessica Preble said, “It was very stressful when we played down, but as a captain I knew I had to be one of the ones that pushed through it and encourage the girls to also do the same.”
    “It was hard but it made me want to play that much harder to prove that we could do it playing down,” junior Megan Witham said. “Our coaches had a big role in making sure we had our heads up no matter what.”
    “No matter how many girls you have you still have to go out there and play your hardest and never give up.” junior Rachael Baker said.
    “At the beginning it was rough,” senior Courtney Bowers said. “Most of the time a lot of what I was thinking was ‘you have to push yourself. You can’t let these girls down. Run because there are people who can’t’ but after the first two games it didn’t take a mental toll at all. Your body just knew it was going to be exhausted and it came to terms with it. “
    Senior Allison Durant said, “Playing with only nine players was definitely hard on us. We had to learn how to work better as a team and had to communicate all the time. Every single game we had to push ourselves hard, most teams had at least 15 players compared to us only having nine. We were in really good shape and could out run every team out there.”
    When asked what made her stick with the season when attrition dropped the roster to nine players, Baker said, “If you quit then you let your team, your coaches and your school down. We worked way too hard to give up. You make a commitment when you sign up for a sport and you need to be dedicated to that commitment for the whole season. Even when you can’t play for whatever reason you still need to be dedicated and be there on the bench to support your team.”
    “To prove to the other teams that us Penquis girls may only have nine players but we have a lot of fun,” Witham said.
    Preble said, “I simply love my team and the sport. I couldn’t have given up on either of those things if I wanted to.”
    “I stuck with it because I love the sport and the support from the rest of the girls who could play” Murano said.
    “If I quit, then there would only be eight then it would be even worse,” Durant said. “And a love for the game played a major factor.”
    Bowers said, “What made me stick to playing when we were nine players down is because soccer is the air I breathe. I wanted that respect from other teams because we held our own when we played against them. There are so many different aspects of soccer. It’s so much more than kicking a ball to another person and trying to put it in the back if the net. In my mind playing down with nine players wasn’t a disadvantage, it was a chance for us to grow together as a team when we worked together on the field. It was a chance to grow as a player and to gain confidence.”
    “And what made me stick it out …. my team and we all became really close and we all stuck with it for each other no matter how hard every game was we played through it and we were determined to win games,” Durant said.
    The season featured a new coaching staff for the Penquis girls soccer team with Jeremy Bousquet serving as head coach and his brother Josh Bousquet as the assistant coach. The players speak highly of the two and credit their coaches with pushing them throughout the games with positive reinforcement. They also said Jeremy and Josh Bousquet pushed them during practices and brought a lot to the table, skill-level wise. The coaches took the time to explain and demonstrate to the girls which in turn gave them confidence to use those skills in the games.
    “After talking with this wonderful group of girls, it really showed how wonderful they really are,” parent Jen Baker said. “Even though they had all the odds against them this year they still went out and showed the crowd that they shouldn’t be counted out. They might be small, but they were mighty! As parents of these young ladies we are all so very proud of them, We all feel that they showed the highest sportsmanship possible in each and every game. You don’t find that to often, especially when you are down so many.”
    The Penquis girls finished with a record of 3-10-1. The Patriots swept Lee Academy, winning the first game of 2013 at home against Lee, 3-2, and defeating the Pandas on the road, 3-1. Penquis also tied at regional rival Piscataquis Community High School of Guilford, 6-6.
    In the final game of the season Penquis defeated Mattanawcook Academy of Lincoln, 2-1, on the Patriots’ home field.