Coming off an 8-6 record last season, the Geneva High School Soccer Girls are excited and ready to start their 2022 season. With a short season last year and a canceled season in 2020, this will be the first full season since 2019!

“I’m so excited to just be able to play again,” Goalkeeper Lucy Tomlinson said. “Last season was shorter due to how Covid affected everything but going to soccer is something I look forward to. I’m excited to play the sport I love with the people I love!”

All the girls on the team have been preparing for this season. Some play for club teams during the high school off-season, some have private soccer lessons, and others work out every day just to stay in shape. No matter what type of workout they are doing, each person on the team has been preparing for this season.

“I have been preparing for the season by doing at least one workout each day,” Senior Genevieve Moncrieff said. “Whether that is interval sprinting, weightlifting, or even walking, I make sure my body is moving. We also have open gyms that help to improve touches and fitness.

Every year they do many bonding activities to bring them closer together on and off the field. The team always has such a strong bond with each other.

“We call ourselves a ‘soccer family’ because we really stress team bonding and treating each other with kindness and respect – like “family”,” Coach Megan Owens said. “We try to balance hard work and fun. So, while we are competitive on the field, we also go laser tagging, to escape rooms, make fleece blankets for charity, volunteer at toy drives and Feed My Starving Children, have fun competitions, and have a lot of pasta parties and ice cream trips, etc.”

With losing in the regional title game last year, a goal program-wide is to win the regional title this year. They unexpectedly lost last year, which makes them want to win it even more this year.

“My goal for the team this year is to win a regional title!” Moncrieff said.  “Since this is my last year on a team, I think it would be a great way to end my soccer career by winning my first regional championship! We also unexpectedly lost last year in Regionals.”

Last year the Geneva Soccer program only graduated three seniors, so almost the full team is coming back. This helps because they already have the team chemistry and know how to play with each other. They also all have experience playing in high school, and against the teams in their conference.

“We return 20 players from last year!” Owens said. “That’s a lot. Over the past 15 years, I have never returned that many. So, while we don’t have a lot of spots available on the varsity team this year, we return almost our entire team, so everyone knows each other, and we have been having fun doing team bonding activities in the off-season.”

One team the girls are excited to play this year is St. Charles East. They are always a very strong team, but the girls have been working hard to beat the strong teams.

“I am most excited to play St. Charles East because they have been a powerhouse for years,” Moncrieff said. “However, this year I think we have a good chance of winning because we are so eager for this matchup.”

The Vikings will kick off their season against Bartlett High School on March 17 at home on Burgess Field. They are eagerly waiting for their school soccer season to start especially with this being their first full season in 2 years.