Linn-Mar is hungry to get back to state, and this time the girls soccer team wants to do more than just participate.
Although the Lions were pleased they got to state last season, they were a little put out by the 2-1 loss to Bettendorf in the first round.
“They scored in the last few minutes,” said senior Kenz Seckman. “It stinks that we couldn’t take them into overtime and get going.”
The players used that disappointment to fuel them coming into this season.
“With the way the season ended last year we are all ready to get going again and do better than we did last year because it didn’t end the way we wanted it to,” said senior Lindsey Harms. “I think a lot of us seniors are just pushing each other to do more so we can get to where we want to.”
The seniors and returning starters are plentiful on this team, so the Lions will have plenty of experience.
“Our strength will be in our returners,” said Coach Steve Dickinson. “I have 10 girls that were starters at some point in the season.”
The returning experience has allowed the Lions to take off running this season with so many players already familiar with what the varsity practice is like.
“Since most of our varsity is back we have been able to just get right into drills and get going instead of having a more ‘tryout week,' ” said Leandra Martins.
Another advantage that Linn-Mar will try to exploit this season is its team speed. “I think it is just an advantage because other teams don’t usually have as much team speed as we do,” Harms said.
The Lions use that speed in every aspect of their game and try to make sure they are constantly giving the other team something to worry about.
“As a defender, being able to get it up into space and having them run on it makes it a lot easier and makes the game go by a lot faster with faster transitions,” Seckman said. “It’s hard for the other team to get back into the flow and defend it.”
The Linn-Mar girls will have plenty of open space to kick to in their brand new stadium.
“It is 60-by-120,” Dickinson said. “That’s a full-sized professional field and its turf, so they did it up right.”
The team couldn’t be more pleased with the field.
“(Thursday) we got to take our picture on it and we were so hyped up we didn’t want to leave,” Harms said. “We were running around on it.”
But even with all the returning starters, Dickinson was adamant they would need to find some substitutes in order to be able to compete all season long. Enter a talented group of freshmen just itching to prove themselves.
“This freshman class kind of reminds me of us when we were freshmen because seven of us got moved up (to varsity),” Martins said. “They look a lot like we did, so I’m glad to have them backing us up.”
