WICHITA, Kan.—
After tying for the City League title for the eighth year in a row last season, the Kapaun Mt. Carmel girls’ soccer team prepares to begin a new season of success. Senior Taylor Kruse said the team will have to overcome difficulties to do so.“We lost some key seniors last year,” Kruse said. “It will be a challenge for us to replace their talent and skill.”
Kruse said that although this will be tough, the team has the capacity to succeed.
“We are fortunate to have a lot of players with competitive club experience, and we hope that proves to be a strength throughout the season,” Kruse said.
Senior Laurel Lujano said she is confident that the team can succeed after working past initial troubles.
“Our biggest difficulty this year will be finding chemistry,” Lujano said. “We have a lot of talent, but there are girls who have never played with each other before. Once we find that, we will be able to win every game.”
Lujano said that she knows the team has great potential and has great hopes for the season as a result.
“My expectations are high,” Lujano said. “I see the talent we have and expect nothing but perfection. For us, we always want a City League title. We also want to win our region, sub-state and ultimately bring home a state trophy.”
Despite this confidence, the team lost its first game against Washburn Rural 3-0. Both Lujano and Kruse remained optimistic about the results and said it was a necessary learning experience for the new team.
“The results of the first game weren’t as planned,” Kruse said. “My expectations were to do a bit better, but we ended up taking some good out of it. We now know what we need to work on for the next games.”
The team plays next on Mar. 27 against Dodge City in the Titan Classic tournament.
