ELHS Girls Soccer Team Optimistic About Future After Season of Growth
In the words of Jeff Lyon, East Lansing High School girls and boys head soccer coach, coaching a high school soccer team is like a cooking show.
“I learned this from a coach in Stoney Creek, who put it quite frankly,” Lyon said. “It’s like a cooking show. You’ve got a 30-minute cooking show, here’s your ingredients, figure it out. The season starts like that.”
Lyon had to learn how to use some new ingredients this girls soccer season.
The team entered the season in March having lost five essential seniors.
“We graduated only five girls, but they were the core of our team, they were right down the middle,” Lyon said. “So we had a lot of girls learning new spots, new roles and that took us a little bit to get ready for.”
A new team dynamic and lineup meant lots of adjustments and figuring out how to make the pieces fit.
“[This season was about] improvement,” Peyton Speakes, junior center back said. “We weren’t very confident, we went into games with a low mindset and it showed on the field a lot. But once we got more comfortable with who we were around and more confidence on the ball, we were able to move up. Maybe not into wins, but we played a lot better towards the end of the season, we connected the ball better and, overall, got better throughout the season.”
The team finished with a record of six wins, nine losses and two draws, but saw growth throughout the season.
“A lot of it was mental,” Lyon said. “So many players were, early on, a little hesitant to know what their role was and then, by the end of the year, two or three girls, they just said ‘Okay, it’s time for me to take a leadership role, even if I’m not a captain, and take charge of the game.’ And I was very happy and I think that will continue into next season.”
Speakes and Lyon both said that this season’s focus wasn’t on wins or losses, but rather acclimating to new roles and building this new team culture on and off the field.
Forced to adapt to new positions and a new lineup almost every other game due to injuries, a strong bond between the players was paramount to find success. One player hosted a team gathering every Wednesday, helping to build chemistry.
“At practice, it was about not just having your group of people, but having a mix of different groups,” Speakes said. “And that was for everyone there, just trying to have a new face to know and talk to.”
Team culture has been important to Speakes throughout her life. She has moved from school to school, but always knew that she would find comfort on the soccer field.
“I’ve moved around a lot, so soccer has always been one constant,” she said. “To be able to know I have something in common with the people I’m around. So being able to connect with people, even in season and out of season, and knowing I still have those people throughout the year is great.”
The team continues to grow closer through an offseason training program. Players hope their hard work over the summer and through next winter will be evident in its play next season. Throughout the year, the girls are offered training with an all-around offseason trainer at ELHS that hosts workouts after school for all athletes.
The coaches also offer open training in June for both boys and girls.
“This started off by another coach about 10 years ago, and it was just boys getting ready for the season,” Lyon said at a hot June workout. “And then the girls were coming out of season, some of them play club, and they were like, ‘Can we do this too?’”
Lyon expects the positive momentum from this season to be carried over to next year.
“I don’t think we intended for it to be a learning season, but we learned a lot about ourselves, we learned a lot about our team,” Lyon said. “But I was just proud. We’re hoping that this is a catapult towards better things next year.”