Transcript
With us on Coach's Corner, KWBG, get a chance to wrap up the Boon Girl soccer season. Ollie Johnson joining us. And Coach and I were just kind of talking about the Newton postseason match. And we'll get there here in just a few. But I kind of wanted to recap, obviously, the season. And Coach, I know our favorite word was not tie to start the season. But we found ourselves in a couple of those situations with Ballard and also with Perry early in the season. And Winner said a little bit later on. But man, there was a ton of great progress from some of these younger players. And I know when we got to the beginning of May, you were super excited about where this team still could go. And we still had a lot of soccer left. Yeah, and they're quite a young team. And I think that that has the pros and cons in a season we could be playing against the team full of juniors and seniors, which is going to be hard for the underclassmen to be able to do. But I mean, the other way to look at it is we're setting them up for next year. And I mean, the freshman, the next three years. So yeah, I mean, it's been an off and down season. We tied, so we didn't lose the games. But I mean, yeah, it really has been off and down. Well, you had a couple of real nice wins, though, that we want to talk about, too. And you had the Carroll shut out on the road. You had a home victory against Carlisle mixed in there. At the Boone invite, you had knocked off Central Iowa United also in a shutout. Came back with a Des Moines East win. I mean, there was a lot of positives when I look at where these victories were. I know, like I said, I know we wanted to turn these ties into some victories. I know we had a couple of close losses mixed in there. But Ollie, once we hit about mid-May into where we were kind of looking ahead to tournaments, I thought you were pretty close to playing some of your best soccer. Yeah, and we did particularly towards the end of the season. We certainly did play some of the best soccer of the season and kind of recent times in the program. Our passing was very good. And it just, it started to click by the end of the season when we were looking up and we were finding passes and we were connecting passes. And we weren't just relying on big balls forward to Emma. It just took us a few games or, wow, it just took us really half the season to kind of get to where we needed to be. But some good wins along the way. I mean, like you mentioned, the ties are there. We just scored one more goal in those ties. And I mean, this is our best season yet. So it was very small margins. Highlight for you, Ollie, as you look back at the season, I know one for me had to have been that opening victory against Carlisle because I know they had kind of been a thorn in your side for a couple of years. I thought Carlisle was a big win. But look back at the season for me. Give me a couple of highlights from you as a coach. Yeah, I think the Carlisle win, rather than a season, was definitely one of my highlights as well. It's always nice to kind of get those wins against teams that historically are very good against Boone. Or since I've been at Boone, we haven't got the win against. So you said that was very nice. I think it was good, particularly with some of the freshmen who were nervous about starting and kind of watching them click and getting better. I think that we had a goal against Nevada, where we were given an indirect free kick inside the 18-yard box. And that will mean that another player needs to touch it before the ball can just be kicked into the goal. I can't remember why it was given. It might have been like a pass back or something. But it came from a moment of brilliance from Whitney Chestnut kind of running up, doing a back heel. And then a Delaney good with a fast bump finish. And it was really good intelligence in the game. And it wasn't something that I told them to do. It wasn't something that we had practiced. It was just them being aware of the rules and some quick thinking by Whitney and Delaney to get that goal. I do think our defending in some games was very good. I mean, we didn't get 10-0s this year, which was a target when I first started. And the direction I want to take the program in is that we don't get 10-0 at all. And in fact, we're looking the other way, and we're trying to win 10-0. Or those games that historically were the 10-0s, we're trying to be more competitive in. And there definitely was times that we were very competitive. And like I say, we've got five wins, nine losses, four ties. Those four ties just need one goal, and it becomes a 500 season, which is the goal. It's particularly in our very strong conference with, I mean, their evidence with, I think it's Bondurant and Gilbert are even playing each other in the sub-state final to qualify for state. And that kind of shows how competitive our conference is. So we know that we are going to have some very tough games in the season. But when you look back at the results of the past few seasons, you can see that we're still going in the right direction. Well, and you want to talk about one of the most competitive games of the season. And it was obviously the season-ender, and that was the double-over-time loss to Newton. And all the UNI were visiting off air about that as much as I heard from fans that were there that said it was one of the most fun but yet agonizing games of the season. Ollie, when you walk away from a game like that, I know you told me there wasn't much I could do. There wasn't much we could do to change the outcome. Sometimes you just tip your cap, I guess, to the other team and say, that was a heck of a game. Yeah. I mean, that was it. I'm left feeling frustrated because I believe, I mean, I'm going to be biased anyway, but we really were at the better team. And considering we just played Newton a week before, we played a lot better. And we took it as far as we possibly could. I think that that first goal was a very lucky goal. The ball came through to Reese, our goalkeeper, who went to clear the ball. And then there was the girl on the other team was kind of flying through the air, when she tripped and was falling. And the ball deflected off of her and went into the goal. And then from that, Newton then got a little bit more confident. And then they got their second goal. But at half time, I mean, at the end of the first half, we were playing well. And then at half time, at the beginning of the second half, we came out and we just played with so much confidence. I could feel that we were going to get ourselves back in the game. And I wasn't doubting that at all. And when we got that second goal, you could just feel that momentum had completely shifted. We were confident we were going to chase this. But yeah, Newton had some good defending and good goalkeeping moments to kind of keep the game tied to, too, even though we were dominating. And then, yeah, and then PKs is a 50-50. So a lot of mixed emotions. I think that definitely their defending and their goalkeeping. Yeah, I can check my heart and say it's very good. They've got a couple of individual players that have got very strong legs on them. But in terms of team play, we were the better team. We just could not find the back of the net, unfortunately. Ollie, you didn't have maybe a huge senior class. But, boy, you had some talented girls that I know you'll be missing next year. Tell me about this senior class. What will you think about them? And how will you remember them? Maybe five, 10, 15 years down the road? Yeah, I think that, I mean, we've got a good senior class. I mean, this is Navea's first season playing. And I know that she's expressed to me that she regrets not playing soccer a little bit earlier, which is nice, because it means that I'm doing something right. And I hope that that is a good message to pass on to the freshman who may be a playing JV or the underclassman that are playing JV, that it is a fun program to be a part of. And obviously, the longer you're involved, the more likely you're going to be improving and developing to get to that varsity level. Cadence is a very good state level wrestler. And I wanted her to build on that throughout from her being a freshman and have that winning mentality, which she does have. And I remember that she was always a player who was frustrated when we didn't get the win, or maybe she didn't see minutes, particularly when we had our smaller squads. So it was a lot of subs who were maybe starting JV, but subs as varsity. And I know that she was frustrated that she couldn't play sometimes, but she worked hard to get better. And that's kind of meant that her senior season has ended with her having lots of minutes in varsity. And then we've got Jenna, who I'm going to be remembering, because of her ability to head of the ball, it was so good. And it was such a development. I remember her as a freshman coming, and like soccer was kind of a newer sport. She was always that volleyball player. But I remember early on saying about how brave you need to be. You've got ahead of the ball, and that can make a difference. And as a freshman, she was trying ahead of the ball, sometimes not the correct technique all the time. But we got to her being a junior, and most recently the senior year, her ability to head of the ball was second to none on our team. And a lot of the times it was second to none on the field. And I'm really happy that she was able to get her goal. This season, and she got it in our... I think it was our Des Moines game. She got that goal that she had never got. And I'm really glad that she was able to get that. Beth Van Dyke was the captain of the JV team. And she really enjoyed playing. She didn't come out as a freshman, but three years in the program. And I know that she enjoyed it, and we enjoyed having her around the teams. And then Delaney Good, my main captain this year, and she's been captain for a couple of years. She'll be missed. She always wanted to make sure that everything was fine. And she's very critical of herself at times. But I mean, she was a great player, a great athlete to have. And she kind of always wanted to listen and do as I'd asked. And as a coach, you can't ask for much more than that. So, yeah, this will be a very memorable senior year. It will leave an lasting impression. And a real nice senior class that'll be coming for next spring. But we'll wait until next spring to talk about them. Ollie, thank you so much. Always appreciate the scores and the coaches' corners time. Thanks for all of your help with Boon Girl Soccer this past year. Yeah, no, I love it. And I'm already looking forward to the next spring. Ollie Johnson again joining us. Boon Girl Soccer here on Coaches Corner.
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